Cross International partners with local churches for World Food Day

Oct. 14, 2009 - PRLog -- Among these are St. Michael Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wellington and the Presbytery of Tropical Florida in Pompano Beach. Both of these groups are working closely with Cross to ship containers of Vitafood, nutritionally-balanced meal packets, to the poor in Haiti and Guatemala.

“Although we may not be able to bring everyone who is hungry to our table on World Food Day, we can do the next best thing and support Cross in changing lives through God’s love and mercy, not just one life at a time but hundreds or even thousands at a time,” said Alec Pridgeon, president/chair of Stewardship at St. Michael’s Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Earlier this year, Pridgeon traveled with Cross International President Jim Cavnar as he toured some of the ministries in Haiti benefiting from Cross food aid. After seeing how food transformed the malnourished bodies of children into happy, healthy boys and girls, he got his church involved with Cross’ work to feed the poor.

The World Food Day effort is one of several initiatives Cross is undertaking to address the massive hunger problem facing the world’s poor.

It is estimated that more than 1 billion people on the planet do not get enough food to eat. The World Health Organization and other international groups are calling hunger the greatest single threat to the world’s health — more than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.

World hunger is at an all time high, yet food aid to the world’s poor is at a 20-year low, mainly because of the global economic crisis. As a result, thousands of people are dying each day from malnutrition and hunger-related causes.

World Food Day is a worldwide event designed to increase awareness, understanding, and informed, year-around action to alleviate hunger. Cross International plans to make this partnership with local churches a yearly effort for World Food Day.

“World Food Day is an excellent opportunity to remember those suffering the ravages of malnutrition and hunger and act to help them,” says Jim Cavnar, president of Cross International. “Through our partnership with these churches, we will be able to provide thousands of meals.”

For more information about Cross International, visit www.crossinternational.org. For churches interested in joining the World Food Day effort, contact Judy Martinelli at jmartinelli@crossinternational.org or 1-800-391-8545.

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Cross International, an interdenominational Christian relief and development organization, works in more than two dozen developing countries, helping “the poorest of the poor.”