Glory Sighting!  Fighting childhood hunger one Yummy Bag at a time at First Hinton United Methodist Church in Hinton, WV. 

The Yummy Bags Ministry won a $25,000.00 grant from State Farm’s “Impact Your Community Grant Competition” in May, 2014.  At that time the Yummy Bags Ministry was giving 15 students at the Hinton Area Elementary School a bag of food to last them for breakfast, lunch and dinner during the weekend.

Angel Gumm, Hinton Area Elementary School Principal said, “Research shows that if you don’t provide good nutrition to children their achievement is not going to be as high.”

Deborah Clark, an educator with Yummy Bags Ministry said, “The education of our kids is our future and if we don’t see that our kids get the best education possible then we’re not doing our job.”

The goal was for the ministry to provide food for all the needy students in Summer’s County.

With help from First Hinton UMC, along with monetary and food donations from businesses in the area and around the conference, three years later the Yummy Bags Ministry is providing nutrition to 111 students for the weekends.

Kroger has teamed up with Yummy Bags with their Kroger Community Rewards Program in giving back to the community.  All you have to do is sign up for a Plus Card and select Yummy Bags as the organization you wish to support and every time you swipe your card, the Yummy Bags Ministry earns rewards.  Yummy Bags has earned $604.00 through Kroger Community Rewards.

The Summers County High School and the Summers County Football Team donated $500.00 to Yummy Bags.

The Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway, WV has been a food provider for the Yummy Bags ministry.

Deborah Clark said, “We’ve gone from packing 15 bags in 45 minutes when we first started to packing 111 bags in 17 minutes with the help of several volunteers.”  I stopped by to visit the Yummy Bags Ministry and it was bustling with activity.  The Youth Group from the Talcott Charge was there lending a helping hand packing bags and preparing the bins for the following week.

Around 1 in 6 kids in America live in “food-insecure” homes.  The Yummy Bags Ministry of First Hinton UMC is making a difference.

Judy Pysell
Greenbrier District Communications Coordinator