SDA signs new MOU with NEMO to provide meals to shelters

The Seventh-day Adventist Church as part of its social responsibility to minister to the brokenness of humanity has just completed one month of a feeding program in the aftermath of the eruption of La Soufriere volcano.

This initiative which represented the fulfilment of a Memorandum of Understanding entered into by the Church and NEMO, saw 31,200 hot meals prepared at four kitchens, by Community Services Volunteers of the church, which represented lunch and supper and delivered to 9 shelters assigned by NEMO and adopted by the Church.

The balanced, nutritious and healthy meals were prepared with caring hands, compassionate minds and loving hearts by 50 volunteers who have left their own domestic duties aside in order to be hands and feet of the Heavenly Father. This is what Jesus would have done if He were on earth today.

The meals represented a basic cost of $US93,600 or $EC$250,000 which translates to $US3.00 or $EC 8.00 per meal. If volunteering, transportation and other incidental costs were to be factored in, then the value of the meals would be approximately twice time the amount.

On Friday, May 14, Pastor Dermoth Baptiste, President of the SVG Mission of SDA and Ms Michelle Forbes, Director of NEMO signed a second Memorandum of Understanding, effective April 16 to June 11 in which a similar number of meals will be prepared to service the same nine shelters adopted by the Church at a similar cost.

In a show of solidarity and support, Pastor Baptiste remarked that the Church was delighted to be one of the first responders to meet basic human needs, and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to unite with other public and private agencies and NGO’S on behalf of ministering to the evacuees.

Forbes, director of NEMO and on behalf of the Government expressed her thanks and appreciation to the Church for their selflessness and generosity in uniting with the Government to help make life and living a little more comfortable for the displaced.

For “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (1 Cor. 1:10). The verb he uses in this final phrase is a metaphor that connotes mending of human relationships. Thus Paul is urging the Corinthians to overcome the factionalism that has damaged the unity of the church.

“Be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work” (Titus 3:1; emphasis added).