200K More Reasons Page 4 1 in 4 kids in Arkansas are food insecure. They do not know where their next meal will come from. In 2014, Annual Conference voted to fight childhood hunger in Arkansas. Over the past 6 years, we have seen the number of food insecure children in Arkansas drop from 200,000 to 162,270. 86% or 540 churches have or are providing food to hungry children and their families, and 200,000 Reasons has distributed more than $200,000 in small grant awards to help support congregations in their feeding ministries. Feeding ministries allow families to spend their limited income on other necessities like rent and utilities. However, the relief is temporary in so many cases. More needs to be done to significantly move the needle on childhood hunger. We are asking the Annual Conference to approve an expansion and extension of the work we have begun. As 200,000 More Reasons, we are asking churches to add poverty alleviation strategies to their ministries with hungry children. Specifically, we will focus on literacy and promoting healthy, stable families as means of hope and assistance for families to move out of poverty. The main objectives to the 200K More Reasons mission are: Nutrition: 200,000 More Reasons will continue fighting childhood hunger through the 5 Action Areas – Feed, Provide, Garden, Teach & Public Witness. Literacy: 200,000 More Reasons will provide literacy support so that every child in food insecure homes can read at grade level. Stability: 200,000 More Reasons will offer ministries to the adults in the lives of food insecure children that promote a healthy and stable family life. The work Wesley and Cavanaugh has done helping food insecure children in our community is monumental and there is still so much more we can do. For more information about the 200K More Reasons initiative and for ideas, ministries and resources, visit: http://arumc.org/our-ministries/200k-more-reasons/ Wesley UMC Newsletter August 2020
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