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Food Backpack Program

April 2025 Newsletter

New Life in Christ: A Season of Baptism and Service

Spring is a season of renewal, a time when we can usually shake off any worries of bleak winter days and look forward to days that just burst with vibrant new life. It is so wonderful to be able to celebrate Easter in this season—the ultimate reminder that Jesus conquered death and offers us new life in Him. At Harvester Christian Church, we see this truth come alive in so many ways, but few are as powerful as witnessing baptisms during this time of year.

Baptism is a public declaration of faith, a moment when someone steps into the water to proclaim that they are leaving behind their old life and stepping into a new life with Christ. Romans 6:4 says, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” This new life is not just about our own salvation—it calls us into something greater: a life of service, generosity, and love for others.

Is Your Small Group Ready To Serve?

With winter finally melting away and Daylight Savings time just around the corner many of us are also coming back to life! I have heard that many small groups have been on hold since the holidays with the onslaught of rough weather and long weeks of illness. Is your small group coming back to life? Are they starting to talk about how they can serve their community? Here are a few ideas to get them going!

1. The HCC Food Backpack Ministry serves about 100-120 local students every week. Your small group can help these children who experience food insecurity by hosting a food drive. This is an easy way to get neighbors involved near your host home as well. Collect canned ravioli, individual mac n cheese, nut-free snacks such as granola bars, beef jerky, and healthy fruit snacks. Plan a special time to pray over these students and families hit with hard times.

2. In the same vein, on average the HCC Food Pantry provides groceries for 130 clients. Could your small group consider hosting a canned food drive to help keep the pantry shelves stocked?

3. Does your small group enjoy being outdoors? Could they consider weeding and mulching at one of our local schools on a weeknight? Would they enjoy helping to keep the Journey Trails free of weeds and trash?

4. Does your small group have the gift of hospitality? Could they consider hosting one of our teacher appreciation breakfasts or lunches? Could they stock and deliver our WOOT WOOT cart, a snack and drink cart, to one of our local school partners?

5. Does your small group love shopping? Could they consider collecting 24 packed backpacks this summer for Pack A Pack? Could they purchase children’s socks and underwear for HCC Back To School events?

6. Is your small group packed with Prayer Warriors? Could they consider joining our monthly School Outreach Pray and Prep where we pray over local schools, administrators, teachers, and students?

7. Does your small group like to plan and host parties and fun events? Could they consider helping to organize community breakfasts or dinners for our community and ministry partners to come to HCC to be encouraged? Or help plan a teacher appreciation dinner?

8. Does your small group love children? Could they consider becoming a Family Friend or a Host Family with Safe Families for Children?

9. Does your small group have a heart for individuals living with disabilities? Could they consider connecting with our ministry partner Joni & Friends and serving at summer camps or family retreats this summer?

10. Does your small group’s heartbreak for our unhoused neighbors? Could they consider serving at a cooling center this summer or a warming center in the winter?

BONUS option: Does your small group want to serve but is not sure where to start? Consider inviting Carissa Figgins, our local Outreach Pastor to visit your small group and learn more about how your small group can lead others to find and follow Jesus!

Make sure each of your small group members subscribes to this blog and is following the HCC Outreach- St Charles Campus Facebook page to stay up to date on serving opportunities and more!

Local Outreach Updates:
God was glorified when HCC hosted the (EWR) Warming Center on January 19-25. We were activated four nights and provided a total of 115 beds to our unhoused neighbors. I couldn’t believe it when I saw three of them on Sunday morning in services and chatting with Warming Center volunteers! We will start planning to provide a cooling center this summer when the temperatures are not safe for humans to be outside for extended periods of time. Let me know if you would like to be a part of that planning.

Our Safe Families/Foster/Adopt Serving Group is really coming together. This group is made up of HCC families who already serve as Host Families with Bethany Christian Safe Families or who are Foster/Adoptive Families. The group also includes Family Friends who may provide physical needs such as formula or clothing but they can also help provide meals, transportation, or babysitting to our HCC families.

Food Pantry and Food Backpack Volunteers are just beasts! They have continued to serve in ridiculous weather situations. Talk about discipleship at the cost of comfort. Thank you so much for your dedication and commitment!

 

FOR THE ONE VISON NIGHTS: We’re just over two weeks away from launching our FOR THE ONE Campaign, and we want to make sure you’re in the loop about this!! This campaign is all about boldly reaching the lost in our region through our third campus in O’Fallon and updates at our Troy Campus. To help everyone catch the vision and understand how we can all be part of it, we’re hosting three identical Vision Nights in February:

  • Tuesday, February 11th @ 6:30 PM (STC)
  • Wednesday, February 12th @ 6:30 PM (Troy)
  • Sunday, February 23rd @ 6:30 PM (STC)

Childcare will be provided for all three nights, and you only need to attend one. Please take a moment to sign up for the Vision Night that works best for you by clicking the link.

 Upcoming Service Opportunities

School Outreach Monthly Pray & Prep
Monday 2/3/25 6:30 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. HCC St Charles Campus Annex Door 10
Join us each month to pray for our local schools, teachers, staff, families, and children. We also use this time to assemble simple appreciation gifts and write thank you notes to local school staff. Click  to RSVP here


The Sharing Shed
Saturday 2/15/25 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. 923 East Terra Ln. O’Fallon, MO 63366
Our HCC Sharing Shed crew serves every 3rd Saturday of each month from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. Volunteers are needed to receive donations, clean them. and occasionally help deliver the items or serve as personal shoppers to Sharing Shed Clients. Volunteers are especially needed who can lift and deliver heavy household items. Sign up Here

LO/GS Spring Training
Thursday 3/13/25 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Mission Cafe
This training is for anyone serving in Local Outreach, Food Pantry, or Guest Services. We will be focusing on safety. SCAAD will be here to demonstrate basic lifesaver CPR. We will have a brief training from our Security Team on what to do in the event of an emergency. We will also have tips and tricks on how to de-escalate and manage difficult conversations. RSVP here

Safe Families Training #1 & #2
Safe Families Core Training Monday 3/24/25 6:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Mission Cafe
Host Family Training Monday 3/31/25 6:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Mission Cafe

Bethany Christian- Safe Families is hosting two in-person trainings at HCC on March 24th and March 31st from 6-8:30 p.m. in the Mission Cafe.
For anyone wanting to serve as a Family Friend either for Safe Families or to support HCC families, you need to complete Safe Families Core Training on March 24th. Click this link to sign up for Core Training. For anyone wanting to serve as a Host Family for Safe Families, you will need to complete the Core Training on March 24th and the Host Family training on March 31st. Click the previous link to sign up for Core Training. In addition click this link to sign up for Host Family Training.
The Sexual Abuse Prevention Training for Family Friends and Host Families will need to be completed online. Email Madison Witte to enroll in the Sexual Abuse Prevention Training.  Feel free to email Madison Witte from Safe Families, mwitte@bethany.org, for any additional information about what Safe Families is, what a Host Family does, or the critical importance of a Family Friend.

Prayers
Pray for one specific neighbor to be curious about your faith.
Pray for God to provide an opportunity for you to share a message of hope and love.
Pray for God to raise up a HCC member to serve as the Hackmann Rd Early Childhood Crew Leader.
Pray for HCC members to form a consister serving crew at Hackmann Rd Early Childhood.
Pray for God to raise up a HCC member to serve as the Becky David Crew Leader.
Pray for the health and healing of so many of our Local Outreach and Food Pantry volunteers.
Pray Local Outreach volunteers will not slip into humanitarian tasks but will boldly unleash the hope of Jesus through justice and generosity.

Resources for you to grow in your faith and Become more and more like Jesus through service

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More Ways to Stay in the Loop

  1. Like and Share posts from HCC Outreach- St Charles Campus Facebook Page
  2. Like and Share posts from HCC Food Pantry
  3. Subscribe and follow HarvesterCC Outreach Blog
  4. In the Harvester app: Log into the app. At the bottom right hand corner click “More.” On the next screen click “Groups.” Click on any group you are assigned to see the calendar, and messaging about needs, events, or serving opportunities. If you would like to be added to any group such as Food Pantry, School Outreach, EWR Warming Center, Safe Families/Foster/Adopt, Natural Disaster Food Backpack Ministry, Elections, or Sharing Shed, please email our Ministry Coordinator Jillian Hohensee at jhohensee@harvester.cc

 

 

Volunteer Spotlight: Ken Sabo

At Harvester Christian Church, we love highlighting how God works through our volunteers, and Ken Sabo is a powerful example of His hands at work. Ken’s service is not about recognition but about responding to God’s call to impact His kingdom. Through Ken’s obedience and heart for others, God brings hope, joy, and transformation to those he encounters. This story isn’t about Ken; it’s about the incredible things God is doing through him to glorify His name and lead people to find and follow Jesus. Continue reading below to learn more about Ken and his obedience to God through service to others!
Where do you serve with Local Outreach? 
I serve in the Food Pantry, the Parking Crew, the Backpack Program (which provides food for children at local schools who may not have the means to be fed on weekends), Local Outreach events at schools in the area, and other service projects through the church as needed.
How are your gifts and talents used in this service?
God uses my ability to serve others and to help meet their needs.
What inspired you to start volunteering with Harvester Christian Church Local Outreach?
When I first started serving, I was at Guest Central. One hot Sunday, our Then-Local Outreach pastor (Kevin Hamilton) asked me to drive the golf cart to pick up people and take them to the Worship Center. At that point, I wanted to keep doing more.
How has serving impacted your personal relationship with Jesus?
It has brought me closer to Him. Realizing that He made sacrifices for me, I should sacrifice my time and talents to help increase the size of the Kingdom and show His love to others.
What advice would you give to someone considering volunteering for Local Outreach at Harvester?
It is real easy to get plugged into a program that needs help. You can try one and if you feel that is not a fit for you, switch to another until you find one that works for you.
How do you see God working through the Local Outreach efforts at Harvester?
I see that we can all help to grow the Kingdom in some way, whether it is large or small part. Every part counts.

People Are Hungry

Food Insecurity is a hard word to describe in our presumed affluent St. Charles County culture. Food insecurity is when you don’t have enough money to buy the healthy foods you need, or if you have to skip meals because you don’t have enough money to buy more food. The reality is St. Charles County actually has the third largest percentage of people facing food insecurity in The St. Louis Area Foodbank service area. Food insecurity can be caused by many things – an accident, an unexpected illness of a family member, underemployment, or simply having children not in school during holidays, spring breaks, or the summertime.

HCC Food Backpack Ministry is another aspect of our School Outreach to meet the physical needs of our neighbors. Each week our dedicated teams of volunteers pack nondescript food backpacks to meet the physical needs of about 100 local school children in 8 different schools across St. Charles County.

“Our program sends a bag of food home with a student each week.  The bag is designed to feed the student for the weekend with simple meals and snacks.  We don’t have any qualifications to participate in this program.  The program is mostly utilized by the “Free and Reduced Meals” families.  Free and Reduced Meals is a federally funded program that provides breakfast and lunch at school for students based on financial need.  Our program has the unique ability to also help students during short-term events that don’t require a family to apply for Free and Reduced meals.  All of the students participating are selected by the counselors in the schools we serve.”

-Shelly Swart, HCC Food Backpack Crew Leader

Here are a few ways you can support this ministry.

Pray. Yep, you guessed it. I think prayer is kind of a big thing. Prayer is constantly needed to help increase all of our faith in God. Prayer is needed for all of us to understand that we can trust God in hard situations like these. Pray about how God might want you to serve in this program or how He wants you to continue serving in this program. Pray for the children and families receiving this supplemental food so that they will see how God is providing for them. Pray for volunteers serving in this ministry that God would provide divine opportunities to unleash hope to the school, families, and children.

Collect food. Consider hosting a macaroni and cheese drive, canned ravioli drive, or protein/granola bar drive. Donate these items to the HCC Food Pantry to be used in the Food Backpack Program. This is a great way to get your neighbors involved in addressing food scarcity in our community and to raise their awareness about the needs around them as well as introduce them to some of the ways HCC serves St Charles County.

Serve. Join one of the packing teams. Consider serving as a driver to deliver to the schools. One of the wonderful things about our School Outreach Teams is that a child or his family can interact with a Harvester Christian in so many instances. Perhaps a child who attends Becky David and sees Harvester Christians delivering coffee to her teacher. Then the next week that same child saw Harvester Christians dropping off a food backpack to supplement what was missing from her pantry that week. Perhaps this child utilized a scholarship in order to participate in HCC Basketball-Cheer and begins to hear the Good News from her coach and other caring adults in the league. All of a sudden the child has a network of support grounded in biblical motivation. All of this creates a trustworthy relationship and a bridge to the church. We have served out of love and obedience. God does everything else.

In a perfect world, a child would not have to depend on a food backpack to get them through the weekend or a school holiday. All of their needs would be met. But even in a lost and wounded world, we can unleash hope through cans of ravioli and boxes of mac n cheese.

Important upcoming dates:

Food Backpack Program resumes on September 11

HCC Basketball-Cheer Registration opens September 25th at 8 a.m.

Guest Services/Local Outreach Gathering- we want to celebrate all of our volunteers. Join us on October 27 for a little food, fellowship, and vision for the coming year!

See You At The Pole September 27 at 7 a.m.