Mission: To eliminate childhood hunger in Brunswick County through partnerships made with individuals and entities in Brunswick County.  

Need: In Brunswick County, 27.6% of children are food insecure. This means they do not know where their next meal will come from.

Methods: Each month, Matthew’s Ministry purchases a large food order at a reduced cost, using their account with Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC. Volunteers pick up the bulk food where it is then separated and packed into plastic bags. These plastic bags are sent to area schools each week to be placed in the book bags of identified children. Food is sent home every Friday to help supplement the children over the weekend. Donated food is also accepted at many sites throughout the county. This donated food offers some variety and extra food to the “set menu” that the children currently receive. Through the efforts of The Old Dominion Dames with The Ocean Ridge Charities Association Inc. (ORCA) and especially the generosity of the property owners of Ocean Ridge, Matthew’s Ministry also received back packs filled with food.

Children are identified for the program by a teacher, coach, guidance counselor, or social worker. Children receive a separate backpack at the beginning of each year to use to transport food.

Results: Today Matthew’s Ministry provides weekend food to 500 children in 13 Brunswick County schools. They are a 100% volunteer organization with less than 1% overhead, so donations can be used to purchase food for the children. It costs $5.50 to feed a child for a weekend, $22 to feed a child for a month, and $220 to feed a child for a 40 week school year. All of the food and backpacks that are used for the program are purchased with money raised from grants, food drives, community fund raisers and donations.

Through the efforts of The Old Dominion Dames with The Ocean Ridge Charities Association Inc. (ORCA) and especially the generosity of the property owners of Ocean Ridge, they received 87 food filled backpacks in 2013 and 123 food filled backpacks in 2014 and 138 in 2015.  These donations have helped Matthew’s Ministry start up the 2014/2015 school year for approximately 25% of the children we service each year.

On March 1, 2015, they were blessed with a 3,000 square foot building in Oak Island, NC. This new space and a large community of volunteers allows them to serve children in the area who are suffering the effects of food insecurity.

Personal Story – How The Program Got Started: In August 2010, a teacher submitted a prayer request to a local Moms’ in Touch group. The prayer simply stated, “Please pray for a child in my class that does not have food at home to eat.”

Kristie Disbrow, a local mom, went back to the teacher and asked if her family could donate food to help this child. She quickly learned that many other children in the school did not have food to eat at home. Kristie emailed her friends, told them about this need and set a collection bin on her front porch. Many donated food to this cause and teachers, guidance counselors and social workers distributed food to hungry children and their families. More and more schools heard about this program and in December 2010, Matthew’s Ministry became a 501(c)(3) non- profit agency.