Caring for the poor is one of the messages for my sermon series: Here I Stand – Issues the Church Should Care About. Below are statics and links to help better inform the believer on how we can be involved.

• According to the National Association of Evangelicals a ten percent reduction in poverty equals and 30 percent reduction in abortions.
• A United Nations report states that 854 million people in the world suffer from the effects of hunger.
• The organization Bread for the World reports: In developing countries nearly 16 million children die every year from preventable and treatable causes. Sixty percent of these deaths are from hunger and malnutrition. In the United States, 11.7 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. That means one in ten households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger.
• Research from the journal Pediatrics shows that preschool and school-aged children who experience severe hunger have higher levels of chronic illness, anxiety and depression, and behavior problems than children with no hunger.
• Golden Harvest Food Bank has served over 140,000 senior adults in this 25 county region. In addition they have served nearly 194,000 children in the same region. During the year it is not uncommon for a child to receive only one hot meal a day and that will be the free lunch they are provided at school. 

To explore how you can be a part of our church’s Benevolence Ministry which includes a food pantry, financial and legal counseling, as well as assistance with utilities, please contact our Minister of Missions and Faith Development, Kelly Hamilton (706) 733-2236 khamilton@fbcaugusta.org or his Administrative Assistant, Susan Perkins (706) 733-2236 ext.208 sperkins@fbcaugusta.org

• The World Food Program (www.wfp.org/english) is the food aid arm of the United Nations whose mission is to meet emergency needs and support economic and social development in the world. 
• Bread for the World (www.bread.org/) is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.
• Golden Harvest Food Bank (www.goldenharvest.org) is a locally-supported, nonprofit, charitable food distribution center that provides grocery products to the hungry through our partner agencies, including our own church’s Benevolence Ministry and Food Pantry. Their service area encompasses 30 counties within Georgia and South Carolina
• Compassion International (www.compassion.com) exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.
• World Relief (www.wr.org) The Mission of World Relief, as originated within the National Association of Evangelicals, is to work with, for and from the Church to relieve human suffering, poverty and hunger worldwide in the name of Jesus Christ.