 CHF is on a Mail Fast. We are taking a break from our regular mailing schedule to cut back on printing and mailing costs. The article below is what we would have sent you through the mail this month. Please take time to read how CHF is giving hope to the children and families who need it most.
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This month, CHF staff member, Fred Martin, shares his experience visiting some of the families we serve in Oxnard, a farming town north of Los Angeles, California.
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Donate Now A Food Pak Story - Oxnard, California
I have seen poverty that broke my heart. Traveling with Children’s Hunger Fund, I have visited families in their dark, hot homes and listened to their testimonies of personal struggle and suffering. When I returned home to the U.S., I imagined that the poverty stayed behind. I was wrong.
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Recently I joined our Southern California Mercy Network® Coordinator to visit the lush farmlands of Oxnard, California. There, the ocean breeze carries the aroma of strawberries and oranges from the fields and orchards that provide the produce for our tables. It is a beautiful place.
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But Oxnard is not all it seems.
 The Gutierrez family came from Jalisco Mexico to work the fields and make for themselves a better life. But a better life can be hard to find here. Along with their extended family, three families altogether, they share a small apartment. Each family member who is old enough to work labors in the fields from early morning through the heat of the day to earn the money they need to survive.
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As they welcomed us into their home, I was immediately reminded of the homes we’d visited in Guatemala or Uganda. The windows were covered and a fan blew to combat the midday heat. All the lights were switched off to conserve energy, so the room was dark and warm. Wherever there was room to stand or sit, the Gutierrez family crowded in to show hospitality to their visitors.
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They shared with us the difficulties they had experienced as the working poor in America. The money they make as a family is never quite enough. They constantly struggle to pay the rent. On many nights, the children have gone to bed hungry. I was surprised by how similar the Gutierrez story was to the many I’d heard in poor villages and slums around the world.
However, their story changed from one of sorrow into one of hope. God has given them something to help them see His love. The pastor of a small church nearby passionately cares for the needs within his community. For several years, he and his brother along with many from his church membership, have done all that they can to provide extra food and resources so that families like the Gutierrez’ will not go without food. Â
By using CHF’s Food Pak® as a relationship-building tool, the pastor has helped the Gutierrez family endure the difficulties that come when building a new life from nothing. His friendship and care has helped them to understand grace in their time of need. This has even stimulated them to begin helping others as well.
The story of the Gutierrez family is not unique. Over the past months we have visited the homes of needy families in Chicago, San Antonio and Los Angeles. Each one had a story of poverty, not unlike those in the developing world. Please pray with us for the Gutierrez family and the many others who are being served by local churches across America and around the world. You can help us provide Food Paks for families like these. For $24, we will be able to provide Food Pak services to a family in need. Won’t you please help? You can sign up for automatically recurring gifts on our donation page here. For around eighty cents a day, you can bring food and hope to the children and families we serve. Donate Here. Â
Thank you. |
