Thousands volunteer for Feed My Starving Children

Tradition plays a big part of each holiday season. Grandma's pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. Arriving early to claim "our spot" for the Christmas parade. The carols at church on Christmas.

A local tradition that is nearly a decade and a half old is La Croix Church's annual event to support Feed My Starving Children.

Over the course of a weekend -- Friday, Dec. 1, through Sunday, Dec. 3, this year -- volunteers gather at Osage Centre to pack nutritious meals for needy children around the world.

Appreciating the scope of this project requires a look at some numbers from this year's effort:

* 2,157 volunteers;

* 536,544 meals packed;

* 1,469 children who will receive a meal a day every day for a year.

Ron Watts, La Croix Church senior pastor, said this year's event drew about 400 more volunteers than last year and the numbers of people stepping forward to help out continue to rise in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked about a message to the children who will receive this food, Watts had a ready thought.

"This was done with great love by God's people so that they might be able to eat something every day and that they might know that God loves them and cares for them and provides for them," he said.

Convoy of Hope is transporting the food to seaports, where it will get shipped where it's most needed.

We're grateful for La Croix Church for sponsoring this annual event and for all the volunteers who roll up their sleeves to help. We know many families make a point of volunteering as a group, and we can't think of many better ways to spend some time together in the holiday season than helping needy children from all parts of the globe.