Back in April, I had a little extra time at work one day and wanted to use my time wisely. For those who don’t know, I work at my church in the Publications Department. We have a Food Pantry that passes out food bags to those in our community every Tuesday and Thursday. People are always donating food, weather it’s peanut butter in a jar or fresh bread from Panera. A large portion of the people who come in for food are homeless men and women and often parents with little kids. They are looking for items that are quick and easy. Many of the homeless will empty their bag of food and stick it straight into their backpacks for easy transport.
I love the pretty patterns on the bar wrappers!
Back to using my time wisely. I knew there was a lack of quick and healthy options in the bag. Especially for parents with little kids. At first I started researching places that would donate fresh fruits and veggies from farms around town but after a few minutes, I realized that was almost impossible to find. My next thought was to email Kind Bars and This Bar Saves Lives. I kind of stumbled upon TBSL one day on Instagram and instantly loved their mission and how they give food to a child for every bar purchased. Plus, they use several ethically sourced ingredients! I reached out to both of the companies and kindly asked if they would be interested in donating bars to our Food Pantry.
After a few days had gone by and I hadn’t heard from either of them, I was kind of discouraged. This was at the end of March and by the first week in April, This Bar Saves Lives responded. They said no, that they were unable to donate any because they were charity based (already giving food to kids who are malnourished), meaning my changes of getting any bars for the food pantry were slim. Not the response I was hoping for but I was glad they returned my email and completely understood their reasoning.
A little discouraged, I remember saying to God, “Well if we aren’t meant to have these bars as a healthy alternative, I will keep on reaching out to other companies and believe that you will provide”.
Exactly three weeks later, I had almost forgotten about sending out those emails. That was until one day, toward the end of April, I opened up my email at work and Matt at TBSL said they had three extra cases (162 bars!) that were going to expire soon. He asked if I wanted them and I said yes, of course! A few days later they were shipped to me at work! God is so FAITHFUL!
The best part about the bars is what happened later! The ladies who work the food pantry came up to me after they were finished passing out food and said they had handed out the bars right away to some of the people who were super hungry. They opened up the bars and ate them right then and there!
With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible! Matthew 19:26
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