It’s often said charity begins at home.
That’s easy to forget with all the pressing needs throughout this all-too-tragic world these days.
A good reminder of that adage is the upcoming “Feeding Our Communities,” a facet of the “Better Together” program of the Central Minnesota Community Coalition.
From noon-8 p.m. Thursday, July 28 at Apollo High School, hundreds of volunteers will get together to package more than 100,000 meals that will be distributed to area charities and food shelves.
It costs 25 cents to package a meal of macaroni-and-cheese or beans-and-rice. The formula used in the food packages, a formula provided by Outreach Inc., is very nutritious.
The “Better Together” program is based on the goal of all people, including people of all backgrounds and races, working together locally and globally to bring peace and kindness to the world.
The mission statement puts it eloquently:
“As leaders, we believe we have a responsibility to the well-being of our entire community. Where differences create tension among us, we will work to develop relationships, create peace, bridge gaps and bring people together. When the leaders work together, so then can the people of our community work together. All of us are ‘Better Together.’
“We see here are walls of cultural tension that continue to stand through a lack of cross-cultural relationships. This community cannot thrive while there are walls of misconception, suspicion, indifference toward each other’s needs, and many more – each wall rooted in fear. Our coalition aims to break down these walls by bringing people together in the service of each other.”
Organizations that are part of Better Together, as well as the food-packaging event, are Catholic Charities, Humanity Central Minnesota Community Services, Orange Oak Media, Thrivent Financial, GRIP/Isaiah, Habitat for Humanity, the Southwest Minnesota Synod – ELCAL Lutheran Social Services, United Way of Central Minnesota and www.UniteCloud.
Packaging meals, as is often done for hungry people overseas, is such a good thing to do in the central Minnesota area. Packaging meals for local people is also important. It not only helps people in need, but it also brings people together in a spirit of solidarity, all working for a good cause and lowering the “walls” mentioned in the “Better Together” mission statement.
Volunteers and donations are still needed. Registration for volunteers began June 20 and will be open right up until the event takes place. To sign up to volunteer, go to: Unitedwayhelps.org
To make a donation, go to: classy.org/feedingourcommunities.
Or send a check to United Way of Central Minnesota, 101 Seventh Ave. S. #100, St. Cloud, Minn. 56301.
