Al's Outreach Outtakes

You may have noticed that the numbers are not changing in the backpack table shown above. With the schools closed, we have no way to get the food to the families who would normally receive it. That does not mean the need has gone away.
 
Shortly after the school closures, our next door church neighbors at Beaverton Foursquare contacted me wanting advice on how to obtain, pack and deliver food to some families at Barnes Elementary School. Foursquare has been providing an afterschool program for multiple Barnes kids and have gotten to know the families. They wanted to do what they could to help them out during this difficult time. About the same time, I received a call from the Community Partners Coordinator with the Beaverton School District. She was getting lots of calls from people wanting to help and from schools needing food for families. Did I have any ideas how we could address the problem?
 
Working with the Oregon Food Bank, we were able to establish Beaverton Foursquare as an emergency food site. Each Thursday, OFB will deliver, at no cost, pallets of food to Beaverton Foursquare where it will be repacked into food boxes and distributed to multiple schools within the District. When families come to the school to pick up a to-go lunch that is already being provided for the students, they will also be able to pick up a box of food that was packed at Beaverton Foursquare to help feed the family.
 
Last week we placed our first order with OFB for 36,217 pounds. We anticipate being able to feed 250-300 families with this food. We are looking into ways of expanding the program to feed even more.
 
Please pray for all of those involved in this program as we continue to look for ways to feed our neighbors.