Read This One in Italics: The feeding centers are experiencing a food crisis!

Chatting with any member of the Sowers family is normally incredibly uplifting. Generally speaking, you leave a conversation ready to go out and serve God! Allen, Trish, and Russell are not ones to over-sensationalize things. So, when my most recent weekly phone call with Allen and Trish felt like a punch in the gut, I knew things were dire. The feeding centers are experiencing a food crisis. In case that doesn’t make you tear up, you should probably read it again in italics. The feeding centers are experiencing a food crisis!

Several weeks ago, Allen and Trish requested prayer regarding the fact that the food supply for the feeding centers was running low. To date, that problem has not been resolved. Basically, what happened is there has simply been too much of an outcry for food worldwide. A lot of groups have refocused their efforts on feeding children in North America, which is also a noble cause. However, it has left organizations like Sowers4Pastors in a lurch. Add to this a hard winter in northern states, which resulted in lower food production, crises in Africa, and political unrest in Haiti (which has resulted in a food shortage) and you have the perfect storm.

The backup suppliers that Sowers4Pastors would normally turn to don’t have any food either. Often these groups will borrow food from each other, but so far everyone Allen has spoken with has been out of food, or the food is already committed. There doesn't seem to be any food to borrow.

To top it off, Lempira has just experienced one of its longest dry seasons. There was an early start to the most recent dry season, so that was extra long. Then, once the rainy season arrived, there hasn’t been as much rain as usual. Families that would normally be relying on their gardens for food at this time of year have stunted plants that aren’t producing well. This is hitting families from all socioeconomic brackets. The people who typically make decent livings as coffee growers are being forced to use the coffee money they would normally use for other things, to purchase food they would typically grow. It has put a tremendous amount of stress on everyone. As Trish said, “When you live in an area where people are living right on the line of survival, it doesn’t take much to cross over that line.”

Normally, Sowers4Pastors operates 150 feeding centers, which feed 14,000 children two meals each week. At this point, between 60-70 feeding centers are completely out of food. Allen has advised the centers that still have a small supply of food to begin feeding only once a week. You may recall that they feed twice per week because that is what it takes to stave off chronic malnutrition.

Sowers4Pastors has been in Lempira for twelve years. At the time they arrived, an estimated 50% of children suffered from chronic malnutrition or starvation. Things are quickly returning to the conditions of twelve years ago. Even pastors who don’t normally operate feeding centers are requesting to open a Sowers4Pastors feeding center because their communities are hungry. The Sowers are being forced to turn them away.

The normal operating costs for feeding 14,000 children two meals a week is only $560 per week. If Sowers4Pastors was to buy food locally of a variety that is similarly fortified, which would cost approximately 50 cents per meal, they would be looking at a whopping $14,000 per week. Naturally, that amount is not in the budget. Unless a lot of people begin sending a lot of money, purchasing food locally is simply not an option.

Currently, the best-case scenario concerning the arrival of a food shipment is five weeks out. That is in no way guaranteed. If another crisis occurs anywhere in the world, there is a good chance of that shipment being diverted. Because this has been a problem for a while, even the feeding centers with a supply of food do not have the amount they would normally have. For months now, Sowers4Pastors has been giving centers a one-month supply of food, versus the 3-month supply they would normally give.

What can you do? Pray. Allen requested that you pray they will find food and that they will find it fast. Pray for the families struggling to survive. Sowers4Pastors continues to aggressively follow up on all possible leads. If you have ever helped pack meals for the program and have any leads on a possible food supplier, please contact Trish or Allen.

You can also donate, through the Sowers4Pastors website - choose the "Feeding Center Program" to designate the donation toward this need.

Thanks so much for your prayers, donations and any contacts you may have, to help us resolve this difficult situation!

 - posted by Christi