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Hunger Strike force
Supper Bowl VIII Sacks Hunger In New Orleans
As the city of New Orleans counts down to Super Bowl XXXVI and Mardi Gras, the churches of New Orleans teamed up with Operation Blessing to kick off Supper Bowl VIII on Saturday, January 26. More than 500 church volunteers turned New Orleans' Harrell Park into a Supper Bowl festival which featured sports clinics with professional athletes, free medical services, free jambalaya lunch for the multitudes, and the distribution of 21 tons of donated groceries to more than 6,000 people in need.
Trenise, a mother of seven aged 10 months to 16 years old, walked to the festival from her nearby neighborhood. "This is a blessing - free food and groceries for my family," Trenise commented as her children eagerly pulled her toward the kid's zone which was filled with inflatable bounce houses, face painting, and other activities.
"The goal of the Supper Bowl is to provide the communities of Super Bowl Host cities the opportunity to show love and concern to those who are suffering within their own community," states Jodie Nelson, Operation Blessing's Director of Outreach. "Since September 11th, Operation Blessing has experienced a significant increase in needs throughout America." Since 1995, more than 900,000 pounds of donated food product have been distributed to low-income families during Supper Bowl events.
"In this time of tragedy, the world is watching New Orleans - to see how we treat the poor of our city, " comments Kevin Brown who is the founder of Trinity Christian Community, an inner-city ministry in New Orleans, and is also the New Orleans-based coordinator for Supper Bowl VIII.
As an officially sanctioned event of the New Orleans Super Bowl XXXVI Host Committee, Supper Bowl Saturday setup started early as the Cooking For Christ team from Baton Rouge's Healing Place Church arrived at 5:00 a.m. to begin cooking gigantic kettles of jambalaya. As dawn arrived, so did Operation Blessing's tractor-trailer trucks loaded with 21 tons of donated groceries. Volunteers began off-loading, sorting, and bagging the groceries. By noontime, thousands of festival-goers feasted on a free lunch of Louisiana jambalaya. Former Denver Bronco and two-time Super Bowl champ Randy Thornton, aka Big Swoll, entertained the crowd by rapping for Jesus. And volunteers handed off 4,000 bags of groceries in Supper Bowl speed to all that attended.
Hundreds of young people participated in sports clinics led by pro athletes such as former Pittsburgh Steeler Robin Cole, former Cleveland Indians pitcher Tom McGough, and former NBA player and Harlem Globetrotter Melvin Adams. "The reason why the Supper Bowl is so important to me is because I'm all about bringing people together…by using our gifts and talents to reach the whole community," comments Adams. Dave Rettig of Christian Sports International concludes, "We really try to teach top-level sports skills, and at the same time the athletes are looking at the chance to share their faith."
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