Society of St Andrew

Children at the Mexico United Methodist Church recently collected over 94,600 pennies to help feed hungry people around the world. Assisted by the congregation, the goal of one mile's worth of pennies (84,460 or $844.60) was more than met with a total collection of $946.98. The project, organized by Sunday School teachers Lisa Groves and Lynne Jerichow, supports the gleaning and food ministries of the Society of St. Andrew headquartered in Big Island, VA. The children collecting pennies on October 9 are (from left) Betsy Pascoe, Jessica Huddleston, Abby Pascoe, Cody Van Horn, and Lesli Key.

In 2005 Missouri Harvest of Hope set a new record in gleaning.

“We gleaned a total of 108,710 pounds of potatoes, including 41,360 pounds
in one day on Thursday. This total is about 50% of the entire produce gleaned
from all of our summer events combined. Way to go! It is also a new Harvest of
Hope record. Or at least, breaking 100,000 pounds is unheard of. So now we
have a Harvest of Hope record. Congratulations!”

We had four teams glean turnips Saturday October 30, 2004. The teams
came from Jefferson City First UMC, Jefferson City, MO, Nelson Memorial
UMC, Booneville, MO, Wilkes Blvd UMC, Columbia, MO, & Missouri UMC,
Columbia, MO. The four teams gleaned 6,744 lbs of turnips in about 4
hours & we had a total of 58 volunteers. The number of servings would be
20,232 for our brothers & sisters in Missouri. We hope to have future
turnip gleans in November if the weather holds. If some churches in
Mid-Missouri are interested please call Joe Bartelsmeyer at 573-474-7155.
I want to thank all the churches and volunteers for all their work
Saturday. God Bless, Joe Bartelsmeyer, HRA for Missouri.

The pictures below are from the Potato Drop that was held during the joint session of the Missouri East and West United Methodist Conferences. All of the potatoes were distributed to food pantries across the state of Missouri to help feed the hungry.

On Friday, February 14th 45,000 pounds of potatoes, which would have been thrown away, were delivered to Church of the Shepherd United Methodist Church, in St. Peters, Missouri, where Carol Meyer, Office of Creative Ministries Board Member, organized the delivery of the potatoes to food pantries throughout the area. In January a similar semi-load of potatoes was delivered to Neosho, Missouri where the United Methodist Men of First United Methodist Church made the arrangements to get the potatoes to food pantries for distribution to the hungry of the area. Neal Blount was the organizer for the Neosho potato drop. By using food that would otherwise be thrown away we are able to serve people food for one penny a serving through the ministry of the Society of St. Andrew. Joe Bartelsmeyer, on the staff of the Office of Creative Ministries, is the Society of St. Andrew Hunger Relief Coordinator for Missouri.

Written by Carol Meyer, the coordinator of the St. Peter's potato drop: The morning of February 13 was sunny but pretty cold. However, no one minded being outside. They were busy getting the agency vehicles loaded, talking, laughing and working hard, some unloading the tractor trailer, others loading the vehicles, some recycling cardboard. We had a tremendous group but two people stood out. One was a little girl about 4 yrs. old, Annie, who was picking up the potatoes that fell out of the bags and putting them in a pile. The other was our custodian from COS. He helped load potatoes for a bit and then went inside and got cups and a pot of coffee. Brad came outside to serve those who were serving. This is God's work at it's very best, being the hands and feet of Christ. We had so many people helping that the pastors and I just got out of the way. To God be the glory for growers and producers who are willing to make these donations possible and for the Society of St. Andrew for their commitment and dedication to feeding the hungry.

Neosho First United Methodist Church Youth and United Methodist Men participate in the January Neosho Potato Drop

Neosho Potato Drop,Scout Help.jpg (225148 bytes)

More pictures of the Neosho Potato Drop. ROTC (far right) and the boy scouts
helped out too. Click on a picture to enlarge it.

The Society of St. Andrew is a non-profit ecumenical Christian ministry dedicated to fighting hunger in our nation and the world. The Society works primarily to salvage fresh produce that would otherwise to go waste and deliver it to people in need. The ministries of the Society of St. Andrew deliver food to the nation's hunger at a cost of about two cents per serving.

The Society of St. Andrew and the General Commission on United Methodist Men have joined together to establish Hunger Relief Advocates (HRA) in each Annual Conference. The Hunger Relief Advocates (HRAs) will provide a link with the local, regional and national United Methodist and ecumenical agencies, which address issues of direct hunger relief. As Hunger Relief Advocate, Joe Bartelsmeyer's job is to mobilize United Methodists in new hunger ministries.

Meals for Millions: Hunger in the US is a problem United Methodist Men are helping to eliminate. The General Commission on United Methodist Men challenges every United Methodist man to strike a blow against hunger by participating in the Meals for Millions program. We also challenge ever UMMen unit to join the fight through Meals for Millions. If every chartered Men's group contributes $200 annually to Meals for Millions, UMM will be leading the church to ending hunger in America in profound ways. Together we can literally "give them something to eat" by providing Meals for Millions!

Gleaning: Gleaning is the traditional Biblical practice of gathering crops that would otherwise be left in the fields to rot or be plowed under after harvest. "When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord you God may bless you in all your undertakings" Deuteronomy 24:19 (NRSV)

Harvest of Hope: The Harvest of Hope is a hunger/education program for senior high youth (15 or older). The 2005 Harvest of Hope will be held in Sikeston, Missouri June 26-July 2, 2005. The youth will glean potatoes from the fields on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, for three hours each day. On Wednesday, participants will work at a mission agency in the area. After some free time each afternoon participants will study the Bible and hunger related issues. Each day concludes with worship. The youth that participated in 2004 gleaned over 46,000 lbs of potatoes that were distributed to an 8 county area. Many of them have said they are signing up to return in 2004. For more information contact Joe Bartelsmeyer at 573-474-7155. For an application form click here.

The Office of Creative Ministries and the Society of St. Andrew coordinate volunteers, growers, and distribution agencies. For more information contact Joe Bartelsmeyer, Missouri Hunger Relief Advocate, at hramo@endhunger.org

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