Store shelves stocked with various food items, including boxed products and snack bags, in a grocery store aisle.

HARVESTING HOPE - Children’s Feeding Ministry

Purpose:

The Children’s Feeding Ministry provides child-friendly weekend meals for children who have been identified as food-insecure outside of receiving a school lunch during the week. This assistance is a vital safety net during a time when access to regular meals is not guaranteed. The program includes children enrolled at Lawnwood Elementary, Frances K. Sweet Magnet School, St. Lucie Elementary, and Lindsey School of the Arts.

Food Packs

  • 2 dinners (chef boyardee, easy mac, beanie weenies)

  • 2 Cereals or Breakfast Bars

  • 2 Snacks (fruit cups, applesauce, pudding)

    Total Cost: $3.47 per child for 155 Children enrolled each week for 2025/2026 school year

How to Support

  • Financial Donations

  • Donation of individual single serving food items

A woman wearing sunglasses and a sleeveless top is standing next to the back of a pickup truck filled with boxes and bags of food, in an outdoor parking lot on a sunny day.
A pickup truck parked under a metal carport with a large stack of boxed food items loaded in the truck bed, with trees, a fence, and parked cars visible in the background.
Eight women standing in a room, each holding a blue basket filled with snacks or food items, with shelves and boxes of supplies behind them, and a table in front with more snacks. 
"He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever"

-Psalm 136:25

How To Participate

Ministry volunteers meet at First Church on Thursdays from 8am-9:30am during the school year (August to June) to unpack and shelve food products and then to assemble bags of food for the kids. Volunteers then deliver bags to the schools. Seasonal Visitors are welcome to participate. Fill out a mission interest form for more information.

Project Partners

  • United Against Poverty

  • Foresters Insurance Company Community Grants

A group of people gathered around tables packing food or supplies in a room with shelves of boxes and cans, and a window with curtains in the background.
Group of people gathered around a table inside a room with cabinets, canned goods, and a refrigerator.
view of store shelves stocked with boxed food products, including crackers and snack packs, in a retail store aisle.
The image shows the back of a blue pickup truck parked in a parking lot, filled with cardboard boxes labeled 'Froot Loops' cereal. The boxes are surrounded by many white plastic bags. In the background, there are several parked cars, a large tree with green leaves, and a plain white building with some plants near its base.

Harvesting Hope 2025/2026 Year in Review

September 11, 2025 - May 28, 2026

Our thanks to the many volunteers who show up weekly to fill the food bags that we distribute.

Many are from the Yoga Ministry who show up early on Thursday mornings in order to have the bags filled and ready for us to deliver by 8:30am.

Weekly Deliveries of food bags go to:
FK Sweet Elementary 100 bags
Saint Lucie Elementary 35 bags
Lawnwood Elementary 5 bags
Lindsay School 15 bags

For a total of 155 food bags each week.

Total Cost $18,272

34 Weeks deliveries were made
155 weekend hunger relief bags per week for a total of 5,270 food bags
Cost per bag averaged $3.47

Volunteer Hours

Assembling bags 202 hours.
Weekly prep work - setup, cardboard recycling, bag counting 145 hours.
Deliveries to schools 34 hours.
Shopping, ordering, purchasing, picking up, delivering, unloading, sorting, stocking,
cleaning/maintaining pantry and other assorted duties estimate 119.

Total estimated volunteer hours: 500.