La Croix Church, volunteers continue to feed the hungry

When you live in the United States, you're sometimes not mindful that every nation does not enjoy such opulence. Many people throughout the world have no idea where their next meal is coming from. La Croix Church has spent almost 10 years helping to feed those people through Feed My Starving Children, a not-for-profit group whose mission is to fight world hunger.

Organizer Linda Watts, La Croix Church members and a host of volunteers gathered from Dec. 2 to 4 with the goal of packing 1 million meals to send to those who need them. They came to lend a hand to this endeavor to distribute food to countries such as Haiti, Guatemala and Swaziland.

"We don't know where in particular the food we pack will end up, but it goes where the greatest need is at the moment," Watts told the Southeast Missourian.

Knowing from experience the needs that others face has a way of making a person want to get in there and help. That's how one volunteer, Adam Newman, feels. He went on a mission trip to Haiti in 2013. "I find it unacceptable for someone to go hungry," he said. "It seems like an issue in our world that is easily solvable."

Rhonda Knepp, another volunteer, who has distributed the food on mission trips with her daughter Kaylen, said, "It … has a special place in our hearts, and so we're here to do whatever's needed."

Needed were people willing to pack boxes of food so families and individuals do not starve.

Knepp and Newman are just two of the 3,600 volunteers who took time away from their weekend to help. High school students, the Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball team, the Boy Scouts and other organizations also helped.

One exciting tidbit about this year's effort is that one of those boxes of food that one of those volunteers packed, which will land in the hand of one those people in one of those countries, was the 5 millionth prepared by La Croix Church volunteers.

Sometimes, people feel that the little they do really doesn't accomplish much, but this proves otherwise. Every little bit adds up. Every little bit makes a difference. Every little bit touches lives -- and that's big to those who need and appreciate it most.

In fact, Kaylen shared from first-hand experience the joy the recipients express when they receive their box of food. "To watch them share with each other, even though they are starving in a way we've never known. Â…They're much more joyful than we are."

"They have much less," her mother added. "And yet they're much more joyful."

Feed My Starving Children and La Croix Church are doing great things. We are inspired by their selfless service.