Day 97: Ring of Care

Just as the Holy Spirit has been working through each member of the Hunger Relief Community over these last 100 days, the Holy Spirit has been busy feeding and guiding the members of Metro CareRing for nearly 40 years.

Today, we give thanks for these dedicated employees, volunteers, and caregivers who strive to meet basic human needs, promote self-sufficiency, and advocate for social change right here in our own community. The tireless efforts and genuine care of Metro CareRing has given us new understandings into what it looks and feels like to truly be hungry, and their tangible example of feeding one's neighbors will live within us, well beyond the 100th day.

Formed with Care: Metro CareRing is a non-profit organization, offering food and personal items, utility payments, transportation assistance, and identification documentation. Utilizing over 150 regular volunteers and eight staff members, Metro CareRing serves over 119,000 individuals each year. Metro CareRing strives to create a "ring of care" around the people in the community most needing emergency assistance.

Rooted in Care: Metro CareRing was initiated in 1974 by five downtown Denver churches to offer a comprehensive response to people in need. Thirty-six years later, partnerships and funding sources include foundations, businesses, faith communities, agencies, schools and individuals.

Serving with Care: About one third of the households receiving services at Metro CareRing are considered “working poor”: they are working, but do not earn enough to meet their basic needs. Over one third is on fixed incomes, and while their incomes never change, the cost of living in Denver continues to rise.

Other clients have experienced a financial setback, such as unemployment, loss of a family member, or medical emergency. Many have physical or mental disabilities and cannot work. Most have little or no money for food, clothing, child or health care, or transportation.

Providing Care: Metro CareRing provides bags of food, toiletries and work-related resources to meet immediate needs. They also provide a listening ear and short-term solutions to current situations. Educating and mobilizing the community to affect long-term solutions to hunger, poverty and homelessness is also a goal.

Day 97. Dollar 97. God of unity and peace, you give each of us grace through the gift of Christ. We give you thanks for associates in ministry, especially Metro CareRing, through whom your people are equipped for the work of ministry and for building up the body of Christ. With your Holy Spirit empower your servants in their calling, so that together we come to the unity of the faith and to the measure of the full stature of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. (Additional prayers, ELW)

Day 91: Your Rising Light

If you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
Isaiah 58:10

Day 91. Dollar 91. Hunger Relief Community, we express our sincerest thanks to each and every one of you for letting your light rise in the darkness by helping those in need!

Day 85: Success

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge him,
And he will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and shun evil.

Proverbs 3:5-7

Day 85. Dollar 85. Heavenly Father, we know that any success we might achieve comes directly from you - your wisdom guides us toward the right paths, your loving example inspires us to change social conditions. Fill us with the hope that even our small steps toward aiding hunger relief will leave your world a better place. Amen.

Day 78: A Sunbeam

"Jesus wants me for a sunbeam,
To shine for him each day.
In every way try to please Him,
At home, at school, at play.

A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.
A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
I'll be a sunbeam for Him!"

Day 78. Dollar 78. Thank you, Hunger Relief Community, for being a sunbeam for Jesus - your efforts in collecting food and funds to help with hunger have truly let your light shine forth!

Day 71: My Prayer

Loving God,

Sometimes, I forget to be helpful and kind.

Please forgive me for...

Thank you for being there for me, especially when...

Help those who are hungry and...

Guide me toward being a better person...

In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen

Day 71. Dollar 71. O Lord, hear my prayer.

Day 64: Wholeness

Day 64. Dollar 64. Healing God, teach us to receive the sick and the hungry with the love of Christ to ensure they are made whole in our community. Help us to serve them in their time of need, especially with food to nourish their bodies and love to comfort their souls. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Day 57: All For One

Famine, grain, and fullness: food plays a major role in the book of Ruth. It begins ironically with famine in Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means "house of food." Each subsequent scene transition is marked by a mention of grain or food: Naomi hears the Lord has ended the famine; the harvests begin and continue; Ruth gleans; Boaz shares a meal with Ruth and sends grain home to Naomi; Ruth shares food and grain with Naomi.

This imagery helps us consider the movement of the entire book from famine to birth and fullness. Consider how and why life moves from emptiness to fullness, including the role of God and the loving behavior of ordinary people. (Source: Enter the Bible)

Day 57. Dollar 57. Just as the book of Ruth reflects the love of God for the whole world, we give thanks for the loving behavior of ordinary people willing to share food and grain with those in greatest need. Thank you all for being the ones who follow in the footsteps of the One who gave His all!

Day 50: Grant us Grace

Day 50. Dollar 50.
Marking the halfway point
on a journey toward wholeness.

Living with Christ and in the communion of saints,
we grow in faith, love and obedience to the will of God.

Let your light so shine before others that they may
see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

You took on the Hunger Relief Day challenge, letting people
know that fighting hunger was not a pipe dream after all.

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your
welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope."

"In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body give for you, Do this for the remembrance of me."

You are playing a key role in helping end hunger right here in Denver!

We are called to act with justice, We are called to love tenderly,
We are called to serve one another, To walk humbly with God.

Day 50. Dollar 50. Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. (Hebrews 12: 14-15)

God of Grace, you have given us minds to know you, hearts to love you, and voices to sing your praise. Fill us with your Spirit, that we may celebrate your glory and worship you in spirit and truth, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Day 43: Our Souls Exalt

Lord, we greatly rejoice: our souls exalt in you. You cause the earth to bring forth food: we eat and are glad. And we beg you to cause righteousness to grow forth from the world that all peoples may live in strength and safety, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Share Your Bread, ELCA, page 13)

Day 43. Dollar 43.
We rejoice, Lord, for those committed to the strength and safety of others.

Day 36: O Lord, Hear My Prayer

God is great and God is Good,
And we thank God for our food;
By God's hand we must be fed,
Give us Lord, our daily bread. Amen.

We thank Thee Lord, for happy hearts,
For rain and sunny weather.
We thank Thee, Lord, for this our food,
And that we are together. Amen.

Thank you for the world so sweet,
Thank you for the food we eat.
Thank you for the birds that sing,
Thank you God for everything. Amen.

God in heaven hear my prayer,
keep me in thy loving care.
Be my guide in all I do,
Bless all those who love me too. Amen.

Day 36. Dollar 36. We thank the Lord for helping hearts, responding to the call. We thank you, Lord, for daily bread, providing food for all. Amen.

Day 29: Renewed Hope

Pray for the ELCA Domestic Hunger Grants Program (click for more info), that it may continue to provide renewed hope in hundreds of communities for people like Greg Washington in Milwaukee, who works in the food industry, serves food to others, but does not earn a living wage himself.



Day 29. Dollar 29. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise God all creatures here below. Praise God above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Day 22: Seeking Deeper Knowledge

Gracious and holy God, give us diligence to see you, wisdom to perceive you, and patience to wait for you. Grant us, O God, a mind to meditate on you; eyes to behold you; ears to listen for your word; a heart to love you; and a life to proclaim you; through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen. (ELW, Additional Prayers)

Reminder: Please bring back your blue (or any other color) reusable bag on Sunday, July 25th, our Christmas in July day, full of items from the lists below! Shop from either or both of these lists: Kids of Kandahar and Metro CareRing.

Day 22. Dollar 22. As we see, perceive and wait for our holy God, we give thanks for the members of the Hunger Relief Day community who are using their eyes, ears, hearts, and lives to seek a deeper knowledge of the good news of the gospel, and come to the aid of those who are hungry.

Day 15: An Attitude of Gratitude

Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things. ~Horace

When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them. ~Chinese Proverb

If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get. ~Frank A. Clark

I feel a very unusual sensation - if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude. ~Benjamin Disraeli

Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live. ~Jacqueline Winspear

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. ~ Mother Teresa

Day 15. Dollar 15. Dear Lord, let us be forever seeking how to live our lives with an attitude of gratitude, thankful for what we ourselves have been blessed with, and thankful for the many ways we can step out and help others. Amen

Day 8: Loving our Neighbors

O Lord God, your mercy delights us, and the world longs for your loving care. Hear the cries of everyone in need, and turn our hearts to love our neighbors with the love of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen

Day 8. Dollar 8. Just as God hears the cries of those in despair, let us respond in turn to our neighbors in need.

Day 1: Join Us

As we embark on

this 100-day journey,

we ask you to join us...

• Join us in song, as we tune our hearts toward the spirit of giving (Mondays)
• Join us in facts, as we absorb the impact of hunger around the world (Tuesdays)
• Join us in images that capture the essence of what it truly means to be hungry (Wednesdays)
• Join us in prayer, as we ponder and reflect upon the gifts we both give and receive (Thursdays)
• Join us in food, where we'll digest the facts of what nourishes our bodies (Fridays)
• Join us in service, as we mark each day and dollar and find ways to reach out to others (Saturdays), and finally,
• Join us in scripture, as we locate and learn what the Bible tells us about hunger and helping our neighbors in need (Sundays).

Our goal is that these 100 days are informational.
Our hope is that these 100 days are intentional.
Our prayer is that these 100 days are inspirational.

Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow human beings throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this daily bread, and by our understanding love, give peace, and joy. Amen. (ELW, additional prayers)

Day 1. Dollar 1. Let the journey begin!