The tithe from Good Samaritan Ministries’ Empty Bowls Project this year again went to Food for the Hungry – this year for an education and recreation center for Loma Pampa and Monte Olivos in central Bolivia.
The $1,650 will be joined with other monies set aside for the project to bring the rec centers to fruition.
Sam Goff, Food Security and Agriculture Program Coordinator for Food for the Hungry, said the money from Good Samaritan will primarily be used to provide a twice-weekly meal to the children and youth.
Goff said Loma Pampa and Monte Olivos are migrant neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city of Cochabamba in central Bolivia. Many families come to the neighborhoods from the rural areas hoping for a better life than the one they left. In many families, children and teenagers are left alone during the day as their parents work long hours to gain an income that is generally insufficient to meet the needs of the family. At night, many of these same children and teenagers are out on the streets without parental control and subject to illicit behaviors, unwanted pregnancies and the negative influences of gangs.
These neighborhoods are far from the city center with no safe places for children, teens or adults to become involved with healthy recreational activities.
Goff said that Food for the Hungry in Bolivia will partner with two churches – El Buen Pastor in Loma Pampa and La Asamblea de Dios in Monte Olivos – who have already begun to take steps to help the children and teens in the area.“They have opened their church buildings to provide a safe place for them to come and be involved in healthy recreational activities within the neighborhood and present Jesus Christ as the Lord of all things and a different way to live,” Goff said.
In partnership with the churches, the program will reach approximately 365 children, 267 teenagers and 300 parents through recreational, educational and cultural games and counseling programs. They hope to also increase awareness and increased consumption of healthy foods by providing nutrition education to the parents, children and youth and provide nutritious meals so they are equipped to participate in and learn through the activities at the centers.
“We are so excited to partner with Food for the Hungry again this year through the tithe from our Empty Bowls Project,” said Angelia Bostick, Executive Director for Good Samaritan Ministries. “It’s so amazing to think that a project we hold here in Brown County can not only affect the lives of families right here but also have a positive impact on families in another country.”
This year’s Empty Bowls Project brought in $16,500 for the hunger ministries of GSM: Food Pantry, Food for Thought Program and The Deer Project. Ten percent of that went to the Food for the Hungry project in Bolivia.
