Dear Church Family,
The Eastern Deanery of the Diocese of West Virginia requests that all congregations participate in a food drive that we hope will become an annual event during each Diocesan Convention.
According to Bread for the World, food insecurity in West Virginia averaged 14% in 2022, making WV the 4th hungriest state with a food insecurity rate 34% higher than the national average of 10.4%.
In the five counties that make up the Eastern Deanery, the average childhood food insecurity rate is 14.5% and the poverty rate for families is 52% to 84% of the population. Many families are forced to choose between buying food and paying bills.
Trinity Episcopal Church of Martinsburg and CCAP/Loaves & Fishes (a local food pantry in Berkeley County) will organize and manage this project:
† Each congregation in the diocese will bring their collected food to the convention
† The Bishop will bless the food
† The volunteers from Trinity Martinsburg and CCAP/L&F will organize and divide up the food
† Eastern Deanery representatives will arrange to pick up the food and deliver it to their selected local food pantry or pantries
“Sharing Abundance” Prayer
“O Creator of all living things:
We are all hungry in a world full of abundance…
Give us openness of soul and courageous, willing hearts
to be with our sisters and brothers who are hungry and in pain…
This world is blessed with enough food of the earth
for every person to eat and be satisfied…
In the name of the tender Mother-Father of all people who
hears every cry, Amen.”
– from Lifting Women’s Voices: Prayers to Change the World, by Ann Case
Thank you and Good Bless,
Managers of the Eastern Deanery Convention Food Drive