No mom wants to see her child go hungry or admit she can’t do anything about it. And yet right here in Williamson County that is often the story. Actually, it is oftentimes the fact that these moms live in Williamson County that makes it hard for them to admit their inability to feed their children. This just isn’t supposed to happen here. But it does!
Frequently these desperate moms will forgo their own meals in order to sacrificially provide food for their children to eat. During the day, many of these mothers depend on the free and reduced lunch program at their child’s school or on an after-school program that serves meals, grateful that their children have at least one decent meal a day throughout the week. Providing meals over the weekends presents yet another challenge all together.
So, you can imagine the GraceWorks’ food programs at are highly sought after and greatly appreciated. Whether it is the self-select Food Panty, the curbside Food Pantry, the Mobile Food Pantries, the Fuel Bags, the classroom snack boxes, moms rely on our provision of food. This is not to say that we serve only women, it is to more to say the majority of Neighbors using our food programs are moms. Because they have to swallow their pride to accept these services, it is all the more important that we provide them with dignity.
At our recent GraceWorks’ Neighbor serving Neighbor dinner, we shared the video testimony of how a single cart of food changed the lives of one mom and her children. So much so that last year when she was able to sell her business, God tapped on her heart reminding her of this little ministry that had given her food to feed herself and her children 13 years ago. She responded to God’s tapping with a generous gift to GraceWorks that will bless many moms (and dads!) for months to come.
I could keep writing and tell Stephanie’s story, but instead I invite you to click on the video below and let Stephanie tell you herself.
There is no real way to measure the gratitude a mom feels when she is provided with the means to feed her children. There is also no real way to measure my gratitude for you for helping Stephanie and so many other desperate moms like Stephanie.
However, you serve us, whether by giving, volunteering, shopping, dropping off your in-kind donations or any other number of creative ways you have joined and supported our Neighbor serving Neighbor mission statement, I thank you on behalf of the Stephanies of yesterday, today and days to come. Together it is our privilege to tangibly wrap our arms around struggling moms through our food program.