GEORGETOWN, Ky. — Hundreds gathered at Great Crossing High School in Georgetown to join members of Crossroads Church as they try to make a difference in the lives of children across Scott County. It’s a fight against food insecurity called “Snack Pack."
"It's an effort to provide kids who have food scarcity, supplemental food to feed them all summer long and so it's a big undertaking, two semi-trucks full of food," said Griff Ray, pastor of Georgetown's Crossroads Church. "They were taking off, we're unpacking and then repacking the boxes to send them home."
Heather Johnson, Crossroads' outreach director, said the mission is a community-wide effort.
"I'm just really excited about everybody being here today. We have almost 300 volunteers coming in here today, maybe 50% are from our church," Johnson said. "The other 50% are from every little space and every business and organization and some just sign up on their own. And we really couldn't ask to be part of a better community here in Georgetown."
When schools close in the summer, many children are at a higher risk of going hungry. Volunteers hope to package 3,000 snack pack boxes to be distributed to those most at risk.
"I had to look it up, but it's about 600 kids last summer that leaned in on the AMEN House for food. So’ these boxes are geared towards them specific, and I just know that there's extra food because we're going to put it on top of what the AMEN House usually hands out. So they're just a blessing to these families and help extend that food allocation even farther," said Amen House Executive Director Michele Carlisle.
Crossroads Church, partnering with Convoy of Hope, provided the food for each box while engaging volunteers from the community to pack each one. Then partners like the Amen House and each of the Scott County Schools will be tasked to deliver these “Snack Packs” to those in need.
"We wanted to step in, whenever there's a need in the community that we can fill, we try to run to that," Pastor Ray said. "And we were really loved well by God and we feel like it's our role to love our community because of that."
Statistics show that nearly 1 in 5 people in Kentucky and Ohio struggle with food insecurity. Something that those gathered here hope they can hinder by their simple act of kindness in this true community effort.