'Blessed to be able to help': Cornwall church distributes food to families in need
Stephanie Brown | CBC News | Posted: July 20, 2016 9:00 AM | Last Updated: July 20, 2016
The Cornwall Christian Church is currently helping 15 to 20 families in the community get food weekly
When Mike and Jana Burns found out there were children in their community going to school without food, they said they had to get involved.
Mike Burns is the Senior Minister of the non-denominational Cornwall Christian Church in Cornwall, P.E.I.
Life is not cut and dry and simple, and food is expensive. - Jana Burns
He said in early January, a group of about eight people in the church volunteered to distribute daily lunches for students at a local school.
They realized those children would still need food through the summer, and decided to donate groceries weekly to families in need this summer.
"They're working really hard to provide meals for their families and it's a difficult time for a lot of people," he said. "We feel as a church that it's our responsibility to do what we can to meet these needs, and have these children fed."
'You would be surprised at who needs assistance'
Jana Burns, Mike's wife, said some people would be surprised at who needs assistance.
"Life is not cut and dry and simple, and food is expensive. Food on P.E.I. is expensive," said Jana Burns.
"I understand it because I have a family and we have to provide for ourselves as well. So it doesn't take much for something like that to happen to anybody. Somebody gets sick, something happens to a mom or dad, and their source of income is gone. What are they supposed to do?"
Jana said they want to be respectful of people and their circumstances, so it is anonymous and they do not require much information from the participants.
Need for food is growing
Right now, they are delivering food to 15-20 families with children in the community, but Jana said the need is growing, with new families contacting them daily.
The church group receives food donations or money from people in the church or the community, buys the groceries and makes sure they are dropped off to the families who need them.
'This is why we exist'
The church currently has a weekly congregation of 100 to 115.
"It doesn't matter how big a church you are. You can impact your community when you find out there are people in need and you have the means to meet it simply then it's what we should all be doing," said Mike.
"God's made it clear to us that we want to be a feeding church: physically, spiritually emotionally. Whatever we can do, to see peoples' needs meet, and to love them like Christ … that's why we exist."
The Burns say right now they are focused on families who have children in the Cornwall community, and they hope to get the word out and have more people get involved.
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