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Groups reaffirm duty to help hungry
The groups met at Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley.
YOUNGSTOWN — The Rev. Kenneth Simon, pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church, summed up during an interfaith gathering Friday the religious community’s commitment to helping those who are hungry.
Meeting at Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley, the Rev. Mr. Simon’s message followed others also reaffirming the faith community’s commitment — from Rabbi Joel Berman of Congregation Ohev Tzedek in Boardman, Randa Shabayek of Masjid Al-Khair mosque and the Islamic Society of Greater Youngstown, and the Rev. Timothy O’Neill of St. Patrick Church in Hubbard.
Mr. Simon quoted Matthew 25:42-45, the passages about someone thirsty, hungry, naked, imprisoned and sick: “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”
“Jesus was passionate about this ... taking care of the needs of people. This was about meeting physical needs, not only spiritual ones,” Mr. Simon said.
Mr. Simon shared a personal experience that made hunger in the Mahoning Valley a brutal reality for him.
He said he had stopped at a downtown ATM machine and saw “raggedly dressed” man nearby. Mr. Simon said he wanted to complete his transaction and be on his way. He did and as he was driving away, he saw the man reach into a trash container, pull out discarded food and eat it.
“I started to cry,” he recalled. “In this land of plenty, I saw this.”
Mr. Simon said he then bought some items at a fast-food restaurant, found the man and gave the food to him. “We have to understand the call ... to help the least. That’s the call today, for all who believe in this cause.”
New Bethel has a food pantry that distributes the third Monday of the month and also supplies food for emergency needs.
Rabbi Berman blew a shofar — a ram’s horn used in Jewish services — for what he termed a “wake-up call.”
“Charity is justice ... doing the right thing,” he said. “Even a person dependent on charity can turn around, preserve his dignity and do something to help another.”
Rabbi Berman mentioned the synagogues have the annual food drive in conjunction with the High Holidays, from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur. The eve of Rosh Hashana is Sept. 29.
“This is a time of introspection and how to reconcile loose ends,” he said. “It’s a time of getting forgiveness from God and other people.”
That reaching out to people can take the form of food donations to help those in need.
Shabayek told the gathering that Muslims are marking Ramadan, and that fasting is part of the observance.
“We fast from dawn to dusk. And we feel the hunger and thirst,” she said.
That experience helps to understand what hungry people in the community endure, she said.
She also pointed out it is every Muslim’s religious duty to give alms — charity to the poor and needy. The mosque is conducting a food drive through September and donations will go to Second Harvest.
Father O’Neill quoted a passage from a book on the seasons given to him some 40 years ago. “The promise of spring now vibrates in reality,” he said, giving a nod to the harvest. But not all people have the means to partake of the harvest, he said.
But that’s where a directive in 1 Peter 4:9-10 comes in.
“Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received,” it reads.
“People have to share their time, talent and resources,” he said, with those less fortunate.
Father O’Neill has been involved for some 15 years with the Difference Makers, a local charity that helps people in need.
This summer, the organization started a food pantry that is open Wednesdays at St. Lucy and Santa Rosa de Lima in Campbell. At Father O’Neill’s church, the St. Vincent de Paul Society has a food pantry.
Michael Iberis, Second Harvest executive director, addressed the group, and called the faith community “believers and doers.”
He said many food pantries and feeding sites are operated by faith-based organizations.
Iberis said Second Harvest is “self-sustaining,” in that it operates with donations and money from its fundraisers.