Church in need of donations to help hungry families

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Initiatives in Oklahoma City are focused on assisting families impacted by the government shutdown.

Those who have been lending help now need to help themselves.

"The fear that's involved, like people are genuinely scared about where they're going to get their next meal," Pastor Tyler Barnes of Thrive Community Church said.

Food is dwindling inside homes around the metro as the government shutdown continues, and the list of those who rely on their assistance to afford necessities like food is growing.

"So, we wanted to be a resource for people," Barnes said.

Barnes says they have been serving families in need for over a year now.

"We've just been serving about 30 families, sometimes 40 families every week," Barnes said.

However, that number skyrocketed to nearly 200 families this week.

"We anticipated there being more," Barnes said. "We didn't anticipate how many more people were going to come. We're thinking, you know, we'll see twice as many people, not that we will see five times as many people show up and need help."

He says the majority of them are being hurt by the government shutdown.

"We were fully prepared in order to be able to meet what we thought might just be a lot of hype," Barnes said. "Then it was heartbreaking to see so many people come and were worried, and they were so thankful."

He knows the need will only grow, so they are doing everything in their power to meet it so no one goes hungry.

"We ordered extra food from the regional food bank, and then as our social media post had traction, we knew we weren't going to have enough," Barnes said. "So, I just started calling all of our community partners churches."

Barnes says they won't be able to continue at this rate on their own and are calling on the community to lend a helping hand.

"It's going to take the whole community, different churches, different nonprofits, and individuals coming together to meet the needs of so many hungry people," Barnes said.

You can donate to Thrive Community Church at this link to help them continue serving the community.

All the food will be handed out on Thursday at 7 p.m. and each Thursday after that as everyone prepares for a disruption to SNAP benefits starting November 1 if the government shutdown continues.