Feed My Sheep aims to help people lift themselves out of poverty.
Lisa George and Amanda Posey, Feed My Sheep representatives, attended the Oct. 2 Upshur County Commission meeting to discuss their mission and programs. Feed My Sheep is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit located on Brushy Fork Road. It is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“It is our mission to provide food, clothing, household cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products to low-income seniors, veterans, homeless people, children and families,” George said. “No one at Feed My Sheep is paid for their work; everyone volunteers their time, including myself, and we have an amazing group of more than 60 volunteers.”
Feed My Sheep provides cleaning and personal hygiene supplies to more than 3,500 people each month. The group distributes 8,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables and 18,000 pounds of food and essential supplies each month.
“We have implemented a ‘grow one, give one’ program where we provided plants and seeds to our neighbors and they donate the produce they grow back to Feed My Sheep — this allows them to give back to our community,” George said. “We do a large giveaway on the fourth Saturday of each month, serving more than 300 families in less than two and a half hours, and we also provide food every day.”
Volunteers hold pop-up food giveaways twice a week, serving more than 1,200 people per month; serve hot meals the first and third Mondays, feeding 800 people each month; and provide 180 hot meals on the first and third Wednesdays of each month for a local Christian school.
“We provide low-income seniors with monthly food boxes, we provide food and essential supplies to the homeless, we provide backpacks, blankets and luggage to the foster care program, we have a back-to-school supplies backpack program, ensuring that children have the necessary supplies to be successful in school,” George said. “We host the Mountaineer Mobile Food Bank every other month and we fill all the blessing boxes in Upshur County three times per week, as well as provide toys for our local dentist that travels to other countries to provide care for children.”
The group also provides protein-rich nutrition drinks to patients at the oncology infusion center and hosts a free Christmas store for children, seniors, veterans and homeless people.
“Last year, we were blessed to serve 5,000 people, all of them getting five to seven gifts, clothes, shoes and stocking stuffers per person,” George said. “The Feed My Sheep project objective is to help end hunger by providing nutritious food to those in need. We try to follow our model: do as much as you can for as many as you can, for as long as you can.”
George said West Virginia’s child poverty rate is the second highest among the 50 states, with 86,400 children living in poverty. One in seven children in West Virginia face hunger every day without proper nutrition.
“Children have difficulty achieving academic excellence if they’re hungry — this limits their opportunities in the job market,” George said. “Feed My Sheep wants to invest in their future success by providing nutritious food at a critical time in their development.”
The group plans to expand services by helping people obtain IDs.
“In West Virginia, to get an ID you must have an address. If you’re homeless and don’t have an address you can’t get an ID and can’t apply for jobs,” George said. “We will provide an address so they can obtain an ID. Amanda will help secure a phone and a hotspot so employers can make contact. Feed My Sheep is striving to assist people in lifting themselves out of poverty.”
They also hope to secure funding to expand their distribution facility, add freezers and refrigerators, offer more educational resources on food preservation and nutrition, and update their kitchen.
“My goal is to help people be aware of and utilize the resources that are available to them in their community,” Posey said. “We assist the elderly. We give free government web addresses to individuals who want to acquire a free government phone, and we also assist with the application process. Another resource we provide is World Vision applications; we assist in filling these out as well. We provide clothing resources, housing resources, transportation resources and legal resources.”
Updates about Feed My Sheep’s programs can be found on their Facebook page.
