Hope in a Bag of Groceries

Like many places in the world, the streets of Guatemala City are mostly empty during COVID 19 pandemic. The government has urged residents to stay home except to get groceries.  At that’s what family members are doing here in this line at an Operation Blessing partner church. 25-year- old Madeline is a widow who has run out of food.    

“I have two children aged 5 and 9,” she told us.  “Their father passed away a long time ago and so my dad has been helping us.  He has not worked for the past 15 days.”

Others like 37-year-old Ana are facing similar shortages as well because of the work stoppage.  

“I clean houses for money.  When the Corona Virus hit I lost my job,” Ana said through her mask. “My husband drives a taxi, but people aren’t riding in taxis during the shutdown.  Food has been scarce.”

Over the past several weeks, Operation Blessing staff have been working tirelessly in our Guatemala warehouse putting together thousands of bags of relief supplies for those hardest hit by the pandemic. 
Operation Blessing’s Geraldina Motta described the process. 

“We receive food and other products and then pack them into bags for hungry people.  We work with churches and others do hand them out.”

To date more they have filled and given away 4000 bags filled with food, soap, cleaning supplies and other groceries to families like Madeline and Ana.   And every bag contains a prayer card and instructions from Superbook’s Gizmo which teaches kids and parents about effective hand washing.  

Families who had been waiting in this long line at an Operation Blessing partner church were grateful for the bags of groceries they received today.   

Ana blessed the donors of Operation Blessing with these words:  “The Bible says ‘the hands of the giver will never be empty!’  With all of our hearts we thank you. You have been a great help to us.  May God Bless you.”