Jenny Earl, Co-Founder of Meals Til Monday, Shares the Hearts Behind this Outreach…..

“Meals Til Monday is about providing for children on the weekend who depend on their school cafeteria for the week; so Meals Til Monday is for the students who, without that food for breakfast and lunch in the school, they’re lacking supper when they get home and they’re lacking food over the weekend.

The idea originated in 2010, and our first actual distribution was the Fall of 2010. We started in Elida with about 30 students, and now were distributing about 400 every week in 8 school districts.

Hunger can seem like an “out there” program, but it’s a bigger program than many people realize.  It doesn’t describe the majority of Lima, but it affects enough students that cannot provide for themselves, that it’s a real problem.

Meal’s Til Monday is completely volunteer driven and supported by donations. Donations come in from churches, organizations, individuals, teachers who understand the situation, or former Lima residents from out of town who want to give back. Volunteers meet every week to bag the meals for the students.

The best way to find out more is to visit mealstilmonday.org. Contact us through email at mealstilmonday@yahoo.com.

We really encourage asking questions. When we started, we had a lot of questions. When you haven’t lived this, facing hunger, or haven’t’ faced a situation of not having enough, sometimes you have questions that you might be apprehensive to ask. We encourage you to ask those questions. We had those same questions when we started. We wanted to make sure we weren’t getting ahead of God. We’re so thankful for people who come alongside, and help meet the need!”     

-Jenny Earl, who along with her husband, Joe, founded Meals Til Monday in 2010.