Last Summer, I wrote a post called Helping When It Hurts about what we can do in the midst of hunger and pain. It was mainly inspired by a trip I took to Haiti where I held the hands and looked into the faces of children who were hungry and in need of help. I think it is easy to think of Haitians or other starving children around the world when we think of hunger. However, hunger does not just exist in third-world countries. Hunger is in your neighborhood, your kid’s school, on the end of your pew in church. Don’t believe me? According to Voly.org:
- In Texas 1 in 4 children (1.8 million) are hungry or at risk of hunger—the 2nd highest number of food insecure children among all 50 states.
- Tarrant County is one of 19 counties in the nation with more than 100,000 food-insecure children.
- Texas ranks as the third highest state in household food insecurity.
I don’t know about you, but those statistics are shocking to me!
That is why Teen Life is changing up its annual #TL5K for a Feed the Need event! Instead of holding a 5K walk/run, our Spring Fundraiser will end with a Packing Party on April 21st where our fundraisers and volunteers will get together to assemble 10,000 meals that will be distributed to hungry students in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
We meet with students every week who have hard home-lives, who work overtime to make extra money to support their families, who need just a little extra help. We are so excited about the opportunity to not only equip, encourage and empower teenagers through Support Groups, but to also provide teens with the physical resources they need.
But how can you help? We would love for you to join us in our efforts to change teenagers’ lives by partnering with us in one (or more!) of the following ways:
You can fundraise.
This fundraiser is different from most other fundraisers. People do not pay to be a part of an event; instead, people sign up to be fundraisers and ask friends and family to sponsor them for the Feed the Need Event. It is pretty simple! As a fundraiser, you will have a personal link that you can text, email or post about. We have found that people are eager to give to a cause that you and they believe in.
If you would like to sign up to become a fundraiser and join us at our Packing Party Celebration on April 21st, go to this link and click “Become a Fundraiser.” You can sign up at any point and start making a difference by raising funds to help teenagers!
You can sponsor.
We are also looking for corporate sponsors to partner with us and make this event one to remember! We have a Corporate Sponsorship Packet that you can look over and choose the level that works best for you. We love our business partners and especially love the way they invest in our students and community.
If you would like to be a sponsor, you can either give online here or mail a check to our office at 2501 W. Southlake Blvd., Southlake, TX 76092.
You can pray.
We need people to be in prayer for this event, the students who will receive the meals they pack, and the future students who will experience Support Groups because of the money raised over the next month. We have a prayer team that receives specific prayer requests and meets to pray over the direction of Teen Life and the lives that are reached because of the generous people who support us.
To join our Feed the Need Prayer Team, you can email me! I will make sure you start getting our Prayer Team Updates.
So, what do you think? How will you join our efforts to equip, encourage and empower teenagers?
