DOC friends who have interest in FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN!!

From Alison Robuck, a Disciples pastor in the Twin Cities:

Dear DOC Friends, I was strangely and powerfully moved by the tragedy in Myanmar. Perhaps it was because of several acquaintances I've made with Burmese refugees in the Twin Cities...but for whatever reason, I became deeply moved by the helplessness and loss of tens of thousands of lives! I felt myself so physically affected by the events -and the "stubborness" of their government - for lack of a better word - that I simply had to DO something!

I have started participating in the "walk-in" nights/days at Feed My Starving Children. They have been able to get more than 1 million meals into Myanmar through a "trusted" agency and are working towards sending more. What I learned yesterday I wanted to pass along to all of you who have participated and/or are interested in the ministry of Feed My Starving Children. For the past 5 years, they have been able to hold their costs to 15 cents per meal.

With the recent food crisis, their cost for rice has about doubled - and by August, the projected cost for rice will be nearly triple of what it has been. Currently, the cost of rice increase - paired with increases in transportation costs - has raised their cost per meal to 17 cents. An increase of 2 cents per meal doesn't sound like much, but multiply by millions and it is substantial!!

There are several funds needing our monetary support at the moment, and I do not advocate competing for funds that would otherwise be donated to either the "Prindle Family Fund" - in response to the Hugo tornado that caused personal, tragic loss for the Prindle family - or the Week of Compassion, which continues to offer aid throughout the world. What I would like to suggest, though, is that we somehow find a way of collecting our loose change to direct towards the ministry of Feeding God's children in Myanmar, Haiti, and other devastated areas of the world.

For more information, please go to FMSC.org. In addition to contributing our change, I would like to suggest getting a DOC group to volunteer for another FMSC volunteer event! If you have volunteered before, you know how fun & rewarding it is to work side-by-side with other "Disciples" for the common goal of feeding God's children. If you haven't yet participated in this ministry, then now is your chance!! What I need - in order to set a date and sign us up - is simply a response from everyone receiving this e-mail. If you would please send a simple reply to this e-mail (either "interested" or "not interested" would be just fine), I would certainly appreciate it. As soon as I have received at least 10 "interested" responses, then I will work towards securing a date and time. (With summer being a crazy time for coordinating schedules, if you want to send along "not available" times with your e-mail, that would be helpful, but not completely necessary.) I simply would like to make certain that there is enough interest to make it happen!

Hoping that you all are enjoying a meaningful summer with family & friends!

Peace to all,
Alison Robuck

If you live in teh Twin Cities Area and would like to participate, please email Alison at alisonrobuck@yahoo.com.