POOLESVILLE, Md. — On most Saturdays, the gym at Poolesville Baptist Church is just a gym. On October 3, it became an assembly line of hairnets, scoops and sealed bags, and by noon, 75 volunteers had packed more than 15,000 meals bound for El Salvador.
The youngest volunteer was 2. The oldest was past 90. In between were church members, neighbors, and a few people who had once stood on the other side of the church’s food line.
Two hours, 15,000 meals
The church partnered with Rise Against Hunger, a global hunger-relief organization that brings everything a packing event needs: the rice, the soy, the dried vegetables, the scales and the shipping boxes. Volunteers supply the hands.
From 10 a.m. to noon, tables of volunteers measured, filled, weighed and sealed meal packets while music played over the gym speakers. Pastor Joel Gilbert says the dancing was part of the point.
“We get to engage in meaningful conversations while we work,” he wrote to BCM/D after the event, “and dance to the music that’s being played.”
When the last box was sealed, Rise Against Hunger loaded the meals onto its truck and took them to its distribution center. Word came back soon after: the meals are headed to El Salvador.
How a small church funds a big day
An event of this size costs real money. Poolesville’s came to $6,200.
A $2,000 BCM/D Strengthening Churches Grant gave the church a running start. Members and community neighbors gave the rest, $4,230.24 in all, bringing the total raised to $6,230.24 and covering the full cost.
That is how the grant is designed to work. It doesn’t do the ministry for a church. It helps a church say yes to an idea it might otherwise have shelved.
Serving with neighbors, not just for them
Of the 75 people who served, 47 came from Poolesville Baptist. The other 28 came from the wider community.
That mix is exactly why the church chose Rise Against Hunger. Gilbert says the event lets members work shoulder to shoulder with neighbors who may never have set foot in the building.
Some of those neighbors already knew the church well. Each week, Poolesville Baptist gives away groceries to 10 to 20 local families. Several people who receive that food came to the gym on October 3, this time to give it.
Before the day ended, the church invited everyone to worship. In the month since, four of the 28 community volunteers have come to a Sunday service. Others already belong to churches nearby, and Poolesville’s leaders encourage them to stay planted there.
What one grant made possible
- 15,000+ meals packed for families in El Salvador
- 75 volunteers, ages 2 to 90+
- 28 community neighbors serving alongside 47 church members
- 4 new guests in worship within a month
“Thank you again for your partnership and support,” Gilbert wrote. The flyer the church sent with his letter closed with Proverbs 19:17: “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him.”
Have an idea for your church?
Strengthening Churches Grants fund projects that help BCM/D churches reach their communities, with awards of up to $4,000. The grants are made possible each year by a gift from the Baptist Foundation. Churches that have existed for at least three years may apply February 1 through April 30. Learn more and apply at bcmd.org/grants.
When we give together, we go further.