Bringing Hope for the Holidays
New Hope Baptist Church in Oakland has been offering a breakfast program serving children before the COVID Pandemic, but applied for a mini-grant from Interfaith Food to further develop the program. New Hope received a $2,000 grant from Interfaith Food in August to expand the program and respond to the changing needs of their community during the pandemic and in-person instruction for school children. New Hope Baptist Church held a community-wide event called “Hope for the Holidays” to provide children and youth with food over the holiday season on November 28. New Hope community volunteers created and distributed food boxes to over 150 individuals which included staple items to compliment food families already had at home. Participants were able to choose specific items including: milk, bread, eggs and cereal. Families gave positive feedback about the event. “The children loved being able to pick what they wanted and loved what we had to offer,” said LaTasha Mitchum, the Children’s Department Servant Leader of New Hope.
Based on the success of this, New Hope Baptist Church will be holding an event called “Hope for Our Community Holiday Distribution” on December 19th. With the new shut down orders announced in December in Oakland, New Hope Baptist Church plans to hold more events in the future to meet the needs of food insecure individuals in the neighborhood.