Hunger knows no boundaries
- Nov 27, 2007
FERRIDAY—About 500 families on a regular monthly basis receive “gap” groceries from Delta Storefront Mission.
Gap groceries are those that fill in the gap until the next government check or food stamps arrive.
“I can’t keep enough in storage,” said Ruby Holder, who with her pastor husband Preston Holder of Ridgecrest Baptist started the poverty relief center in the late 1970s. “In addition to our regular 450-500 families who come to us each month, we keep 10 to 15 emergency boxes stocked with ready-to-eat foods for transients.”
Churches in Delta Baptist Association contribute regular support to Delta Storefront, which also receives support from the Southern Baptist Convention’s World Hunger Fund.
Delta Storefront is one of the poverty relief centers of the SBC’s Mississippi River Ministry. MRM is a partnership of eight state conventions on the Mississippi River – Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee – the North American Mission Board and Women’s Missionary Union.
“The need along the Mississippi River is akin to that of a third-world country,” said MRM’s director, Cindy Bradley. “The poverty rates are sometimes worse than you’d find in a third-world country. We started this ministry 15 years ago, and the situation hasn’t improved; it’s not getting better. The needs continue and probably have grown.”
A government study of the Mississippi Delta released in 1989 alerted Southern Baptists to the concentrated need, Bradley said. A River Runs Through It is the title of a 1998 NAMB mission study of the area; it showcased the work of the Mississippi River Ministry.
“One of our objectives is to connect churches and individuals with ministry needs,” Bradley said. “If a church is looking for a ministry project, we have a variety of them all up and down the Mississippi River.”
A map of the Mississippi River Ministry area includes about half the width of Louisiana, indicating that areas about an hour west (and, for that matter, east) of the Mississippi River include a higher-than-normal incidence of poverty, Bradley explained.
As Louisiana Baptist Convention’s director of church and community ministries, John Hebert is liaison with the Mississippi River Ministry.
“There aren’t that many churches in that region,” Hebert said. Most of the area is agricultural, with large landowners, but the population is predominantly black, and poor.
“In Louisiana, our ministry is through ministries our churches have established,” Hebert continued. “We’ve started many ministries along the Mississippi River region, from Monroe to New Orleans; we have ministries in almost every city from the north to the south.”
The ministries include Comfort Corner in Oak Grove, Care and Share of First Rayville, Footprints in Epps, Breadcrumb in Jonesville, Ray of Hope in Monroe, New Dawn in Bunkie, Mary’s House of Bread in Baton Rouge and several more. (See box)
Almost all the ministries have clothing and household goods as well as food, plus literacy, job training and more.
“World Hunger funds are used to help support those ministries.” Hebert said. “Your gifts to World Hunger help internationally, nationally, and right here at home.”
This article is reprinted from the October 18, 2007, issue of Baptist Message, the newspaper of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
Further Learning
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