You(th) VS Hunger

 

Recently our Youth group and Confirmation groups hosted a YOU(TH) VS HUNGER event and invited students from the protestant and Jewish  communities.  This event is done in partnership with Cross Catholic Outreach an organization that works with Catholic Charities to reach out with food, shelter and education in places with extreme poverty. Cross Catholic has several projects, YOU(TH) VS HUNGER is a project geared specifically for places where the problem of hunger is extreme.
The project is divided in 4 steps. First education of the students in First World countries, in particular USA and Canada, about the problem of hunger in the world. Several activities are done in youth groups, catechesis and bible groups etc. to create awareness of the issue of hunger. Then the second step is preparing the program, setting the date of the Day event, preparing material for the parish to know what is going to happen and more importantly the students who are going to participate work in raising the money to buy the food they are going to pack. This is done by setting some money apart from their part time job for this event or saving by doing several sacrifices or preparing a group fundraiser. The third step is the day itself. The Parish provides the space and Cross Catholic provides the material we could buy with the money raised. This year 250 young people gathered in St. Joan of Arc’s gym for 3 hours to prepare 80,000 meals. The meals consist of rice, beans, soy protein, minerals and vitamins for healthy body function. This Project points to feed people with necessary proteins, minerals and vitamins; people who are suffering from disease from lack of proper nutrition.  Once they achieve a healthy level, other projects include regular food, education, housing, medicine etc.  The fourth step is to send the meals out to places that have asked Cross Catholic for help. Our project this year sent the 80,000 meals to Haiti (Feed my Sheep Mission) and Guatemala (Caritas de Guatemala).
We are looking forward to start preparing next year’s YOU(TH) VS HUNGER Day. Our goal is to gather 350 young people and prepare 100,000 meals. If some of our sisters are interested in knowing more about Cross Catholic Youth vs Hunger program or if you know of communities who could benefit from these meals check their website to get in touch with them www.crosscatholic.org. Or let me know so I can get our local office in touch with your area. The project is interesting and it really helps the youth participating to reflect on the issue of hunger in the world.

Happy Easter to All!

Vivian