Texas Baptists allocates $200,000 to ‘love our neighbors’ through feeding and disaster relief ministries

Texas Baptists allocates $200,000 to ‘love our neighbors’ through feeding and disaster relief ministries

In a Thursday evening advisory email, Julio Guarneri, Texas Baptists executive director, announced the allocation of $200,000 to provide hunger and disaster relief in Texas and the Caribbean.

Guarneri said that some church feeding ministries are being stretched by the increasing needs of those they serve due to a lack of government pay and benefits, and that Texans On Mission, the disaster relief ministry of Texas Baptists, is deploying to meet needs in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean due to the impact of Hurricane Melissa.

The government shutdown, which began on October 1, has impacted federal worker pay and other benefits, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), of which some 3.5 million Texans are recipients.

Guarneri is allocating $100,000 to the Texas Baptists Hunger Offering, to be distributed as grants to feeding ministries in need. Interested parties may contact the Hunger Offering to learn more and apply for these funds.

Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall as a category five storm on Tuesday, October 28, has claimed the lives of 50 individuals across Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.

In response, Texans On Mission is deploying disaster response coordinators, logistics specialists and community organizers to support partners on the ground in Jamaica, and is partnering with North Carolina Baptists to support relief efforts in Cuba.

Guarneri said $100,000 is being allocated to support Texans On Missions feeding efforts in the Caribbean in response to the storm.

“We are thankful for the generosity of Texas Baptists churches through the Cooperative Program and God’s provision through the stewardship of the resources he has entrusted to us that makes this possible,” Guarneri said. “In particular, we are thankful for those legacy donors whose investment income continues to bless beyond their lifetime.”

Guarneri encouraged Texas Baptists churches who feel called to do so to give additional funds through the Cooperative Program, or directly to the Texas Baptists Hunger Offering and Texans On Mission.

“Most of all, we welcome your prayers for both those who are in need and those who minister in such situations,” Guarneri said. “Let’s be good neighbors. Let’s love our neighbors in Texas and beyond.”