As many as 400 Tyrrell children face hunger to some degree every weekend, Dr. Will Hoffman, school superintendent, reported Dec. 16.

“One kid is too many to have to face the weekend knowing that they will not eat again until they return to school on Monday, but Hoffman expressed that we have many more, up to 70 percent of our kids face this reality in varying measure,” said Pastor Tim Hayes of Sound Side Missionary Baptist Church.

The Tyrrell County Ministerial Association intends to launch an appeal to all the churches to gather at least four churches that would provide “a football-sized sack of food for at least 20 kids once a month,” Hayes explained. “If more churches signed up, it would lighten the responsibility on everyone and meet a great need. I cannot stress enough how much this ministry is needed in our community.”

The project grew out of an Association meeting on Dec. 16, attended by Steve Bryan, lay pastor at Columbia Christian Church; Royce Reynolds, pastor of Sound Side Free Will Baptist Church; Hayes; Hoffman; and Carlos Armstrong, vice chairman of the Tyrrell County Board of Education.

Purpose of the meeting was to discuss a partnership between the churches and the school system to provide assistance for under-privileged children in our community, Hayes stated.

The Association also decided to give a seed offering of $500 to start a fund that would be “easily accessed by school principals and counselors to provide for emergency or urgent needs that the kids might have — school clothes, supplies, etc.,” Hayes explained.

“An appeal will be made to churches and individuals to make regular/monthly contributions so that those who are closest to these kids will have the resources they need to meet the needs as they see fit,” he said.

“This is a crucial and unfortunate circumstance that so many of our kids go with either so little or nothing at all,” Hayes said. “This is a time when the church of Jesus Christ should rise up and do all within its power to meet these needs.”

Hayes thanked Hoffman “for his compassion and making the initiative to meet this need.”

Hoffman thanked the Association for its blessing “and your response to a critical need within our school community. I am reminded in this season, and through your actions, that ‘Love is always patient and kind.'”

Churches and individuals looking to get involved through volunteer service or charitable donations should contact Pastor Tim Hayes at 434-229-5323 or by email at pastor@soundsidebaptist.org.