Growing Knights
Bill and Rhonda Crist lead this Enon UMC ministry. Growing Knights is a program to assist Greenon Local School District (GLSD) students at Enon Primary and Indian Valley and is also supported by Rocky Point Chapel.
With the insight of GLSD Superintendent Brad Silvus and knowledge of GLSD food and nutrition specialists, the Growing Knights program started in the Fall of the 2018-2019 school year. The program provides an individual bag of nutritious snacks every week for students who face food insecurity and need help with breakfast and lunch on the weekends–meals they are able to eat at school during the week.
Growing Knights initially focused on kindergarteners and first graders and expanded through sixth grade by Spring 2019. In the 2020-2021 school year, we served 47 children. We served 69 children during the 2021-2022 school year. In October 2022, we grew to serve 77 children, and numbers of students served have continued to increase. The Growing Knights program runs during the school year and is supported by many generous food and cash donations. Enon UMC collects and stores donated food items, and volunteers pack and deliver food bags to school offices for distribution to children to take home for the weekend. Food bag contents are tailored to students’ ages. To maintain student confidentiality, schools notify us weekly about the number of bags needed for each grade. During the 2023-2024 school year, Enon UMC provided 3,354 weekly bags to support local Greenon children!
How do I enroll my child in this program?
Please contact the Greenon Campus Office for a permission form. GLSD schools send parental permission forms home with students, and we begin distributing food once schools receive signed forms.
How can do I get involved in this ministry?
Growing Knights needs your help! Here’s what you can do:
1. Pray for those donating, picking up, packing, and delivering food.
2. Pray for the staff at Enon Primary and Indian Valley who distribute the food bags to children.
3. Pray for the children who receive food and their families.
4. Donate money for purchasing needed supplies (this ministry is not, and has never been, part of the Enon UMC budget).
5. Purchase and donate food–place food in designated tubs in the Enon UMC Lobby. See the list of allowable food items below. (Funds are available for reimbursement–ask the Treasurer about process.)
6. Volunteer to pick up food donations and inventory (usually on Mondays). Sign-up sheets are in the Enon UMC Lobby.
7. Volunteer to pack food bags in the Ingle Youth Center (usually on Wednesdays). Sign-up sheets are in the Enon UMC Lobby.
8. Volunteer to deliver food to Enon Primary and Indian Valley offices between 9:00-9:30 a.m. (usually on Fridays) and return delivery tubs to Enon UMC. We need two volunteers each week. Sign-up sheets are in the Enon UMC Lobby.
What food items does Growing Knights need?
All Growing Knights food donations must be individually packaged/single serving. No peanut butter or nuts! Specific food items permitted:
— Breakfast bars/pastry crisps/Pop Tarts
— Little Bites muffins
— Instant oatmeal
— Tuna/chicken single serve pouches
— Single-serve cereal bowls
— Sun-Maid yogurt-covered raisins boxes
— Unsweetened applesauce/fruit cups/squeeze tubes (e.g., GoGo Squeez)
— Pudding Cups
— GoGo Squeez Yogurtz
— 100% juice pouches/boxes
— Fruit snacks
— Cheddar cheese sandwich crackers
— Cheese dip snack packs
— Microwaveable macaroni & cheese
— Microwaveable pasta/rice with chicken & vegetables
— Individually wrapped beef sticks
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Enon UMC is part of the Western Lakes District of the West Ohio Conference of the UMC
Page current as of 6/2/2024