Two local churches in Lakeland cut services short Sunday to allow members to head to Publix to fill grocery carts full of food.

  • Lakeland churches participate in 'Feed the Need' event
  • Services were cut short Sunday to allow members to buy groceries
  • The groceries are then donated to charities that feed those in need

The food was then donated to charities whose mission is to feed members of the community who are in need.

The “Feed the Need” event has been going on for the past six years.

Hundreds of parishioners from St. Paul Lutheran and Christ Community Presbyterian churches participated.

It was a great way for Heidi Brickhouse to teach her niece how to give back.

“If I’m blessed and I can give to others, then I want to be a part of that. It makes me feel great,” said Brickhouse, who donated $145 worth of food.

This year, the food people purchased went to two charities: kidsPack, which feeds homeless children and Volunteers in Service to the Elderly, or VISTE, which feeds the elderly.

“This allows us to feed more than the 1,700 children that we’re feeding weekly, because we have more than 3,900 registered homeless children in the Polk County school system,” said Patty Strickland, kidsPack’s executive director.

“It’s incredibly important. Many of our folks are low-income,” said Steve Bissonnette, president of VISTE. “Obviously on a fixed income at this point in their lives. A lot of them need the extra groceries to get to the next social security check.”

According to organizers, the event brings in more than $20,000 worth of food for the charities.

“We’ve tried to expand this,” said Rev. Ron Pennekamp of St. Paul Lutheran Church. “We want more churches to be involved. More charities to be involved. We believe there’s this food shortage that really needs to be addressed and we can do that.” 

If you would like to help, visit kidsPack at www.kidspack.org or VISTE at viste.org