Hungry

They look so happy, it’s easy to forget their pain. Many of our campers arrive with huge smiles, bubbling over with excitement for camp, but, if you look closely, you’ll see signs that not all is well. We can blame it on a struggling economy, a broken welfare system, or neglectful parents, but, whatever the case, the problem is still there—these kids are hungry.

For many of our campers, the only nutritious meals they ever receive are the free meals provided for them at school. When the school year ends, so do the meals. They arrive to Summer Camp hungry for good food. Often they will comment with amazement that we are providing 3 quality meals every day, plus a snack at night. It’s more food than they are used to, and they eagerly devour every bite. At the end of the week, we overlook our rule that no food is to be taken out of the cafeteria because when we see campers stuffing rolls into their pockets to take home, we know that they are doing so because there will be no food there when they arrive.

This year South Mountain Christian Camp is working with the Summer Food Service Program through the NC Department of Health and Human Services to provide healthy, nutritional meals for all of our campers. Although we’ve been providing our campers with great meals for decades, this new partnership will enable us to meet specific meal criteria, identify those who have the greatest need, and do all that we can to make sure these children don’t have to go hungry all summer long. While our primary purpose is to provide for our campers’ spiritual needs, we know from Jesus’ example in Mark 6:30-44 that we should provide for their physical needs too.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the help of our generous supporters. Most of our campers could not come to camp without financial assistance, and people like you are helping to make that happen. Please pray with us that God will provide the needed funds for camper scholarships as we are still thousands of dollars short of meeting the need.