Dexter, Missouri - When the rainy weather cancelled many outdoor activities for the weekend, volunteers and organizers from Global Compassion Ministries were on hand at First Baptist Church in Dexter to provide a very rewarding event of packing food for their Haiti Missions.  

Inspired by a local young man who had attended a mission trip with the Global Compassion this past February, Matt Kinder returned from his trip excited about the opportunity he was given to assist in feeding thousands of families in the Northwest portion of the country of Haiti.  In his heart, Matt committed to the preparation, fundraising, and scheduled the event. 

As in many area churches, mission trips are nothing new at First Baptist Church Dexter.  For many years, members of First Baptist have participated on mission teams to Kosovo, Haiti, Mexico, Africa, Nicaragua, Romania and the Dominican Republic just to mention a few.   The mission committee at the church corporately participates in many fundraising events such as mission lunches and concessions at the Stoddard County Fair.

The excitement for a new idea came as no surprise when Matt shared his desire to have a food packing day.  He was met with great enthusiasm from the congregation.   Over 120 men, women, and young people were on hand at 10:00 AM Saturday morning to begin the process of filling food bags for

The rainy weather turned out to be a blessing for the organizers as well.  As with everyone, busy schedules often dominate the time of families, but cancellations of baseball tournaments and track meets Saturday only increased the volunteer count for food packing.

Global Compassion Ministries is a unique charitable organization.  The entire group is made up of volunteers from across the state of Missouri, including the St. Charles, St. Louis and Fulton areas.  With the ability to avoid the typical costs and expenses that accompany organizations of this nature, nearly 100% of the money collected by the group is funneled directly to the ministries of the group.  

Even more importantly, the same group of individuals is actively involved with the work that is being performed in Haiti.  The individuals are as they say "the boots on the ground" for the ministry. 

Jerry Lantz of St. Charles, Missouri has been a long time member of the Haiti teams.  Upon his recent retirement, he began to pursue his calling to personally deliver meals to the starving children he had witnessed in the Northwest section of the country during previous trips. 

"Malnutrition in children is often very evident in the reddish blonde hair of the children," noted Jerry.  "I have been going to Haiti for years and not able to do a lot about it.   After retirement, I no longer had a reason to prevent me from getting involved."

In 2012, Jerry began the process of developing the food ministry for Global Compassion Ministries.  Jerry partnered with other mission team members to begin the process of surveying one of the area villages to determine the needs that existed.  Jerry, along with Lane Konnelmann, were able to deliver 50,000 meals to that village last year.

With the addition of small boat and motor in 2013, Jerry's ability to move about the area was greatly expanded, and his team was able to survey three villages this past February.  Early estimates seem to increase the number of meals to 175,000 but a more recent estimate has increase to nearly a quarter of a million meals for the villages currently served.  

"You know the basic needs of man are food, water and shelter," added Lantz.  "I am seeing the changes in these children's lives, and that makes me want to get this food to them on an ongoing basis."

The Global Compassion Ministries has affiliated with Kids Against Hunger, a humanitarian food-aid organization based in New Hope, Minnesota.  Both groups share the same hope and mission to significantly reduce the number of hungry children and feed starving children throughout the world.  

The packages put together today at First Baptist contain six meals in each bag that cost only $0.25 per meal or $1.50 per package.  Jerry and his team will travel within a 200 mile radius of St. Louis for anyone willing to sponsor 10,000 meals. 

"We will bring the bulk food and all the packaging to you and let your church pack it," said Jerry.  "We simply ask you to provide the funds to pay for it which includes shipping to Haiti."

To contact Global Compassion Ministries or Jerry Lantz about getting involved or hosting a food packing event, you can email Jerry Lantz at:

www.globalcompassionministries.com.

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