One of the things I love most about working for Target is the company’s commitment to the community- both with volunteerism and with financial support (Target gives $3M (5% of our profits) EACH WEEK to the communities in which we operate- that’s mind blowing to me!).
Target is concluding its annual United Way drive, and as part of the drive we were goaled with volunteering (on company time) 6.5 hours, minimally, per person. Josh blew this out of the water and volunteered, like, 30 hours. I only did two hours… but those two hours were with significance.
This morning, twenty-two of my colleagues and I volunteered at Feed My Starving Children, an openly Christian organization. In two hours time, we packaged 25,672 meals that will all be shipped to North Korea.
We shoveled chicken, veggies, soy, and rice into those bags as fast as we could. Of the 11 tables staffed with volunteers, my table packed the most bags- a total of 972 individual bags. With each box that was filled, we shouted, “BOX NUMBER TWENTY FOUR!!!” and hollered and cheered and danced to Black Eyed Peas and The Beach Boys.
See, it’s not easy to get food such as this into North Korea. Feed My Starving Children is working with a new mission partner in North Korea and are concerned the food will travel seamlessly through Customs and to the orphanage for which it’s intended.
After the two hours concluded and we learned how many bags we packed and saw pictures of a child that went from weighing just 19 pounds at 8 years old to 72 pounds after one year of eating this manna pack, we were offered the opportunity to pray over the food in the back of the warehouse.
There were several groups volunteering- my group from Target, a couple groups of teenagers, and a group of 7-9 year olds. The prayer was entirely optional. I told my boss, with whom I rode to the event, that I would be right back. Just two others from Target, out of our group of twenty two, joined in the warehouse for the blessing. And I was not surprised that these two, Jon and Lisa, chose to pray, for I know they are Christians. How awesome is that? For your colleagues to know that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior?
The other groups? Almost all of the teenagers and almost all of the children kept making their way to the back, where the boxes were stacked high on pallets, so they could join in prayer for the food we just packed.
My two colleagues and I were surrounded by children a third to a half of our age. We closed our eyes and prayed that the food would be blessed and travel safely to the orphans, needing it so desperately in North Korea.
During the prayer I peeked open my eyes and saw two young girls on either side of me, with their eyes clenched shut, and hands folded tightly, chins raised slightly. I closed my eyes and tears dripped from the corners. So many thoughts raced through my mind in these short minutes:
• Even though I don’t know these children, how very, very proud I am of them—that they elected all on their own to come to the back and pray for the food. They could have stayed in the fun marketplace room, where we had been gathered, to see all of the cool bags and pretty jewelry made from some of the very people that receive the manna packs. But they didn’t. They made a conscious choice to walk to the back of the warehouse to pray for the food. So much bravery and wisdom, in children so young.
• I saw my little Claire in the petite 7 year old blonde girl standing next to me, eyes and hands clenched shut. And oh, how I pray that my little Claire will also be here in her future days- serving others and standing boldly in her faith.
• I wondered why the large majority of the children chose to come pray, when only three people out of the 22 from Target did the same.
• I thanked God for these orphans in North Korea, and prayed that they would receive this healing food, and more so, that their spirits would be healed as well.
It is a privilege to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I am honored to be able to give my time and resources to organizations such as Feed My Starving Children, and, even more so, HOPE International. I don’t believe that children need to be starving, for generations to come. I do believe that poverty can be eradicated, in our generation. The amount of extreme poverty has decreased so significantly over the past twenty years (I’m forgetting the exact statistic). Extreme poverty can be something that our children’s children read about only in history books. This, I believe.
