Day To Serve

Every September we have the opportunity to go to Serenity Farm in Benedict Maryland and serve by working for Food4Hunger. This year the kids were so excited. Thayne says that it is one of his favorite days after Christmas. It is dirty work but we love to help.

There is the corn. This is our fifth year at the farm. Almost every year we get to help with corn. It has to have the bottom stalk snapped off and then loaded into boxes. You can't take to much off or else it is considered processed. The farm is not allowed to process any food items. Once it is sent to the food pantries, they finish the job. The trucks are loaded about five feet high and it takes several hours to get through that much corn.

There are always jobs that Lydia can help with. Last year she sorted sunflower seeds into bags for school children. This year she was able to help sort through the tomatoes that we had been picking out in the fields.

Thayne is usually all over that farm! This year he helped pick tomatoes, spread mulch, clean out a greenhouse and did something with pipes. Brother Brown said he was finding jobs to keep the boy busy. Everyone knows that Thayne loves to explore but he also loves to work. 

Maliea and I helped in the fields picking tomatoes. Oh so many tomatoes! There were several varieties to glean. Many had already fallen from the vine and were rotten. I filled up about 5 of those orange buckets. The hardy ones are the romas and they seemed to fare better on the vine. In past years there have been sweet potatoes, peppers and green beans.

This program does so much for the community but the part I love the most is that it is a ministry to help those who have past prison records to participate, work and change. Visiting with these men and seeing the power of redemption in their lives is incredible.  I am grateful for the opportunity to help in a small way; to help to feed our community in need and to teach my children to serve others.