Inasmuch Feeds Thousands in Guatemala

In April a shipping container with 252,000 meals was sent from Knoxville, Tennessee to Guatemala.  In June a team of volunteers from Central Baptist Church, Johnson City which included David Crocker, Executive Director of Operation Inasmuch and Corky Corcoran, member of the Inasmuch Board of Directors, gave out about 6,000 of those meals to people of three villages in rural Guatemala.

                                    

                        The container was opened revealing the 252,000 meals.  Unloading was hard but rewarding work.

“Giving tasty, nutritious meals to people, some of whom are not able to eat every day, is one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done,” says Crocker.  “Having been on the production end of providing these meals with literally hundreds of church volunteers, it was an extremely rewarding experience to be on the distribution end as well,” adds Crocker.  “Shipping a full container of food to Guatemala is one of the most ambitious things we have attempted.  Now we know that many thousands of poor Guatemalans will benefit from these efforts this year.” 

The idea to ship meals to Guatemala came about in a conversation between David Crocker and Lee Harlan of Central Baptist, Johnson City.  Harlan leads a group of his fellow church members to Guatemala each year in support of the ministry Clubhouse Guatemala (www.clubhouseg.com) to provide for the needs of rural Guatemalans.  Harlan said the ministry could use meals in their extensive feeding program in which they provide 3 meals each week to hundreds Guatemalan children.

Harlan is uniquely positioned to facilitate such a shipment as his employer, Tennessee Eastman Chemical Co., is one of the largest international shippers in the world.  He was able to enlist the generous support of several shipping companies to significantly reduce the cost of this shipment of food to Guatemala.

 

Donna Harlan, Lee’s wife, said:  “Besides the obvious blessing of being able to share out of our abundance with those that God loves and wants to bless through us, I was touched by being able to make the journey to each individual home and see their simple lifestyle and openness to us. Their warmth and generosity toward us was moving.”

The Inasmuch ministry began offering food packing events as an additional way to minister to people in need in early 2013.  In that year the ministry staged events that produced about 150,000 meals.  To date 315,000 meals have been produced of which the shipment to Guatemala was a big part.  “We expect to pack even more meals in the remainder of 2014 perhaps even to ship another container to Guatemala!” says David Crocker.  “While it will never be our primary focus, the packing of meals and providing them to hungry people helps us fulfill a portion of Matthew 25,” he adds.

 

Does your church partner with a third world country?  Would you like to see your church send good food to those places?  Contact David Crocker at 865-951-2511 for more information.