The Suncoast Haven Of Rest Rescue Mission; A Beacon Of Light In The Dark, Hungry, Frightening World Of The Working Poor
The Suncoast Haven of Rest Rescue Mission’s goal is to touch the lives and to help feed the hungry, needy working people of Pinellas County Florida. Every year now for over 27 years they have provide millions of pounds of food to feed low-income families and individuals including children and the elderly that are facing hunger in Pinellas County Florida. The mission is a bright shining light in the darkness of despair that tens of thousands of hungry, needy people face each and every day in Pinellas County Florida.
In January and February of 2106 alone, they provided food for an amazing 362,752 meals in an eight week period! That works out to 45,344 meals distributed each and every week during that time period!
What is even more incredible is during these two months they provided this food to these needy, hungry people for a cost of only 6.17 cents per meal! They accomplish this remarkable feat by a truly unique business model that is probably the only one of its kind in the world. For every dollar donated in food, Suncoast Haven of Rest Rescue Mission can provide over 16 meals to help feed the hungry, needy working poor of Pinellas County Florida!
A double cheese burger, large fries and large soda costs an average of $7.26 in the country. For $7.26 in donated food, Suncoast can provide 1.5 pounds of food to feed a meal to over 117 individuals! That is the equivalent of nearly 24 basketball teams!
You see, they take very seriously the Scripture from the Bible where Christ was talking about the Kingdom of Heaven and when He said in Matthew 25 "For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. When the righteous people asked, "When did we do this?" He replied, "I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!"
In addition to food and benevolence money, they provide:
Continuing help with:
Unfortunately, while our economy shows some signs of a feeble recovery, tens of thousands of Pinellas County Florida residents have not benefited from it. To further compound the problem there are additional serious threats to our country’s nutritional programs, along with Congress cutting back on some programs, as well as food insecurity that is holding steady at a totally unacceptable high and a projected rapidly accelerating rate.
By providing a program of long-term food security for these hungry and needy families and individuals, Suncoast Haven of Rest Rescue Mission is helping to support a healthy work-force of the working poor, while providing the means for improving our educational system, and working toward a more prosperous future for our community.
With their vast array of services and programs, Suncoast is helping to lift up and support our client’s efforts to have a future free of hunger, and to assist them as they climb out of the poverty in which they find themselves. You see, Suncoast does not only believe in ministering to the physical needs of the people that they serve, but they want to minister to their emotional, psychological and spiritual needs as well.
When an individual comes to Suncoast for food, without fail, every one of these people have a private session with one of our free councilors who will discuss with them their current state of mind, their physical and emotional difficulties and the general condition of their lives.
As a result, our councilors often are able to encourage individuals, who in their total despair, indicate that they have been considering suicide as a way out of their defeated and beaten emotional circumstances. Our councilors will sit with these individuals and comfort them for as long as necessary to help them see that life is worth living, and that they are not battling their situation alone but that they have a champion in Suncoast that will help them to rise above their despair and see the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel".
Published: August 1, 2016
By: Phillip Gilliam
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