Last night, millions of American children went to bed hungry or worried over their next meal.
That statement may be hard to believe, but according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), more than 13 million children in this country are food insecure. But food insecurity, defined as “the inability to consistently access or afford adequate food,” is not just a problem for children.
In 2022, the USDA documented food insecurity in every single county in the nation, and the problem continues to grow, with 1 in every 8 American homes experiencing food insecurity at some point. USDA statistics also show that the all-foods consumer price index rose exactly 25% from 2019 to 2023, further complicating the problem.
Even though more than 44 million Americans suffer from food insecurity, anywhere between 30% and 40% of all food produced in America goes to waste each day.
Recognizing the problem
Blessings of Hope (BOH), a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit ministry, is working to bridge the gap between the nation’s wasteful food surplus and the dire number of Americans in need.
In a recent interview with The Stand, David Lapp, CEO of BOH, explained that it all comes down to biblically based stewardship of available resources.
“We live in a nation that wastes a semitruck full of food every 13 seconds,” said Lapp. “Statistics show that 24.1% of everything in landfills is food-related product. So we are not looking to produce more product.
“Our mission at BOH is to steward the resources that are already produced … sitting on a pallet somewhere. The work has already gone into producing the product. Our mission is to redirect that product from the landfill to the people who need it.”
That mission has grown exponentially since 2006, when the organization started in a family garage to meet the food insecurity needs of fellow church members of Light of Hope Ministries.
Currently, BOH takes the equivalent excess of 1.8 million meals per month from manufacturers and producers and redirects it onto the tables of needy Americans via regional ministries, churches, food banks, and relief organizations.
“Food is the product that we handle,” said Lapp, “but we’re really a logistics and warehousing organization. We have our own fleet of trucks, so we can pick up the product and distribute it at the rate at which nonprofit organizations can use it.”
Besides a fleet of trucks, BOH has two large, in-state warehouses where they store food donated from corporations until it can be distributed for outreach in other areas. They also have three selection centers where smaller organizations and local food pantries can shop to meet the needs of those they serve.
Modeling the solution
BOH is solving one of America’s major problems (food insecurity) while simultaneously addressing another national problem (landfill food waste).
But for other Christians with a heart to feed the hungry, the journey from feeding a few church members to facilitating millions of meals daily seems daunting – if not impossible.
Lapp agrees that building a successful, far-reaching ministry is a process requiring consistency and faithfulness, but he also knows firsthand that God equips His children step-by-step in the ministry process to which they are called.
That process has been one of trial and error for BOH, so the ministry website shares what they have learned about stewardship and servanthood in three concise steps: “Acquire. Transform. Distribute.”
Acquiring the resources
The heart of any ministry meets real needs by acquiring readily available people, partners, and products.
People are the first step, so the BOH website boldly greets visitors with an invitation to join the ministry’s dual mission: “Help us turn excess into impact.”
Yet a closer look at this simple invitation to end both food insecurity and food waste raises complicated questions. How do new food ministries locate this excess? And what do they do with it once they find it?
The answers lie in extending the invitation to organizations and corporations at every level. As a result, bridges are built, partnerships are formed, and multiple needs are met in the process.
One of BOH’s partnerships involves Vision Video’s offshoot organization RedeemTV, which offers “edifying and redemptive” media materials for viewers of all ages on its donor-supported, ad-free streaming service – without fees.
According to Danielle Tumminelli, the marketing and distribution manager for Vision Video, its partnership with BOH perfectly fits RedeemTV’s Christ-centered goal of blessing communities with stories of truth, hope, and faith for generations to come.
“We wanted to partner with BOH,” said Tumminelli, “because we want to nourish people’s bodies as well as their souls. That’s why RedeemTV is offering readers a link to view BOH’s ministry video.
“Together, we are helping the people who need food and the people providing that food to see the love of Christ in action.”
Tumminelli also agreed that BOH’s unique stewardship model – ending food waste while also ending food insecurity on a national scale – is a win-win solution to very real needs.
For corporations, those needs are sometimes as simple as getting a tax break through donations of products that would otherwise go to waste.
“These large corporations have semitrucks full of food available,” remarked Lapp, “but they don’t want to deal with 50 organizations a day. They want to make one phone call and get rid of their problem. But most food pantries can’t take a truckload of fresh produce each day.”
While BOH solves that immediate problem for large food producers, its common-sense stewardship also helps businesses with the ongoing problem of waste disposal. In fact, the efficiency director of one large corporate donor revealed that its 10-year partnership with BOH had saved his company over $3.5 million in disposal fees.
Transforming the product
But like many fledgling ministries, BOH did not always have the needed infrastructure to acquire truckloads of quality resources from both producers and retailers – or the ability to transform food donations wisely by dividing, combining, and preserving those resources.
Currently, the transformation takes place on two fronts: through family-sized food boxes packed by volunteers for outreaches into neighboring communities and states, and through larger quantities of food placed on the shelves of BOH selection centers for acquisition by smaller ministries and organizations with pantries and food banks.
Distributing the food
Ultimately, BOH’s mission is to impact as many hungry people as possible by better stewarding food that is already available.
“What these food production companies are looking for,” said Lapp, “is a place that can take volumes of product … when they are ready to get rid of it. If we can provide a quick, hassle-free, easy way to do that, there is almost an unlimited amount of free food available.”
It’s a simple but profound stewardship model: Use what is available when it is available to provide what is needed.
STEWARDSHIP
Stewardship is one of AFA’s six core values, which define and drive AFA’s efforts to transform the culture by fulfilling the Great Commission in Matthew 28. When it comes to stewardship, AFA believes that everything in the heavens and on Earth belongs to God, and the believer’s role in it is that of a trusted manager.
(Digital Editor's Note: This article was published first in the September 2024 print edition of The Stand. Click HERE for a free six-month subscription.)
