A friend of mine found an old, cracked, worn out serving bowl that had been her grandmother’s. It now sits on her kitchen counter. At first, her spare change went into it. Then she started adding more, saying “If I spend 75 cents on a candy bar, I put 75 cents in at the end of the day. Plus I still put in the spare change.”
She gathers it together once a month and delivers it to the food shelf where she lives, thanking God for her grandmother’s hand-me-down bowl that is still serving.
It is easy here in Cook County to find ways to help others. This week, the Grand Marais Art Colony made it easy to assist the Cook County Food Shelf through the Empty Bowl project. Artists, school groups and volunteers have made soup bowls in recent weeks. They’re being used for a fund-raising soup dinner. Folks buy a bowl, get soup for dinner, and get to take the handmade bowl home—and the Food Shelf is provided for.
The event is over for this year, but it will be back next year and the need is still here now.
We don’t have to fight solo against things like hunger. Empty Bowls is one of the many ways of “partnering” in Cook County, for the benefit of the greater good. When we come together, more gets done, more people get fed, and more friendship develops.
As the Art Colony website says, “This is a great way to have a lovely evening with your neighbors and friends while raising money to ensure that others can have a hot meal on a cold fall evening as well.”
Why talk about this here, in Spiritual Reflections? Because we all need to take advantage of the ways we can help one another. You may not believe in Christ. You may not believe in God. But through the Food Shelf, what you give will get used.
The Food Shelf program means that more mouths at more homes get filled. In Cook County, each month sees more than 100 families coming to the Food Shelf. National statistics show that the number of families needing this program has increased dramatically in the last 10 years. The number of people close to or below the poverty level has gone up; the number of people, especially children, going to bed hungry at night has gone up. Many of us may worry about our personal economies, but mostly admit, “Oh, I can do something to help.”
Jesus Christ says we are to care for those who hunger. God, through the Old Testament and New, repeatedly indicates that we are to care for our neighbors, and that we are especially to care for those who have less.
To donate now, get a contribution to the local Food Shelf (First Congregational Church, 300 W. 2nd St., Grand Marais, MN 55604) or call 387-2113 to get the mailing address.
P.S. Check out your storage cabinets. Maybe there is the perfect old or “underused” bowl available for your kitchen counter. Your grandmother would be proud of you!
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This week our contributor is Pastor Kris Garey, Trinity Lutheran of Hovland.
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