Elaine Lederer volunteers at the food closet behind Bethany Church on Fruitridge Road every Tuesday and she reported that the Pocket Area Churches Together donated 400 bags of food to The SSIP (South Sacramento Interfaith Partnership) Food Closet in March. She said the food closet serves about 90 families. “It’s nice to see our shelves full,” Lederer said.

The community brought in: Canned vegetables (include green beans), canned beans and chili, tomato products, (tomato sauce, paste, canned tomatoes, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, etc.), canned soup, canned fruit, ramen and dry soup (include cup of noodles, Lipton soup, etc.), canned meats and fish (include canned stew), dry pasta and rice (include Rice-a-Roni, Hamburger Helper, Macaroni & Cheese, etc.), canned pasta (include Spaghetti Os, ravioli, etc.), peanut butter, jams and jellies (include almond butter), holiday foods (canned cranberry, canned pumpkin, canned yams, canned gravy and stuffing mix), miscellaneous (including: canned milk, cake mixes, crackers, etc.)

PACT includes: Faith Presbyterian Church, Greenhaven Lutheran Church, Greenhaven Neighborhood Church, Riverside Wesleyan Church, and St. Anthony Church.

With drums and the voices of Ethiopian children raised in song, members of the congregation at Faith Presbyterian celebrated the first anniversary of a joint commitment and partnership with the people of Abaya, Ethiopia on Sunday, July 31.

“Hope Sunday” was a celebration of a year of accomplishments, and a hopeful look ahead to the future.

In the past year, Faith Presbyterian members individually sponsored 90 Abaya children through World Vision. (Members of the church sponsor over 300 children throughout the world, also). The church also completed the installation of a latrine and access to fresh water, a $20,000 commitment.

Future plans include raising funds to build a school in Abaya. The school will give hope to 400 children who cannot attend school right now because the existing school is too small. The goal is to raise $100,000 and $20,000 has already been raised.

Faith Presbyterian will send a pastor and five members of the congregation to Abaya to live among the people for a period of time. The purpose is to listen, learn and determine needs. This will be a follow-up visit to the one conducted a year ago, when the partnership began.

The congregation hopes to sponsor more children in Ethiopia through World Vision. Efforts to educate members of the church about the difficult situations facing children and the impoverished in Africa are ongoing.

Canned goods were gathered by PACT (Pocket Area Churches Together) on May 15 to supply local food closets that serve South Sacramento residents who are in need during these tough times. Future projects to help neighbors in need are planned. / Photo iStockphoto

A new emerging ecumenical organization calling itself Pocket Area Churches Together (PACT) made quite a dent on hunger on Sunday, May 15. Consisting of members of Faith Presbyterian, Riverside Wesleyan, and St. Anthony Catholic churches, the fledgling organization brought together more than 85 volunteers to go door-to-door asking residents for canned goods to feed the hungry.

“Hunger never takes a day off,” said Frank Allen to the volunteers as they formed teams to go door to door. “Thousands of needy families in South Sacramento are turning to the Food Locker operated by the South Sacramento Interfaith Partnership for food. A year ago the Locker was providing needed nutrition for 3,000 families per month. Now that number has climbed to nearly 6,000 families. What this means is that the Food Locker needs a lot more canned goods to meet the increasing needs.”

Most of the food collected on Sunday went to the South Sacramento Interfaith Partnership (SSIP).

The volunteers formed teams of five to four walkers and one driver. They were assigned to go to about 100 Pocket area homes to share what the churches are doing and to offer people an opportunity to make a donation. The results were phenomenal. According to the director of the food locker, more than 1,600 pounds of food worth an estimated $3,000 was delivered on Monday morning and was already being used to feed hungry families.

What’s more, the volunteers from three Pocket area churches were thrilled with the results.

“Not only did we collect a lot of food for needy families, we also had a wonderful opportunity to meet and work with members of our neighboring congregations,” said John Stockton, a leader from Riverside Wesleyan. “God’s spirit was definitely with us as we prayed together, worked together and then celebrated by sharing a meal together. We look forward to doing more projects together in the near future.”

“The pastors of these churches have been meeting together for years,” said Jeff Chapman, pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church. “A few months ago, we decided it was time to turn our words and good intentions into joint action. PACT and this effort to feed the hungry was a first, excellent step.”

“We are gathering together as Christian communities of faith for the greater good of our whole community,” added Mike Higley, pastor of Riverside Wesleyan. “We believe we can do a lot more good together than separately. We’ve made a ‘pact’ to do just that.”