After applying for a grant, the Grand Rapids Hispanic church received $150,000 to help feed families affected by the pandemic. | Photo courtesy Cristina Calderon
The email from Michigan's Kent County arrived a few months after the pandemic. In it was information letting the Monte de Sion Church in Grand Rapids know they could request funds from $5,000 - $150,000 to help families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The church applied for the grant and it wasn't long after that a check for the maximum amount, $150,000, was received. The funds were used to put food on the table for 825 people.
How was it done? The church prepared vouchers in the amount of $232.00 and gave it to 212 families during the months of October, November and December. The families exchanged the vouchers for food at local supermarkets.
Apart from distributing the grant, church leaders prayed with those who requested it.
"We give thanks to God because the pandemic will never restrain the arm of our Savior Jehovah," said Monte de Sion Senior Pastor, Benjamin Calderon.
"We believe that all contact with people in our community is an opportunity to raise up Jesus Christ. All that happened and will continue to happen in our district has been God’s work, not our own. To God be the glory!"
Benjamin Calderon, Senior Pastor of Monte de Sion Church in Grand Rapids
