Epoch 2013 Nomination
A few weeks I go, I learned that I had been nominated for an Epoch award. If you have not heard of the Epoch awards, they seek to honor the unsung heroes that are quietly working to overcome poverty, drought, HIV/AIDS, sex trafficking, homelessness, and fear. There will be six winners chosen from a plethora of nominees and $50,000 will be awarded among the six winners. I had several reactions to learning of the nomination. First, I was humbled and honored to be in the nominations among the throngs of individuals and ministries. Every time I read the listing of the nominees and the work they are doing, I cannot help but feel like one guy trying to bail the ocean with a spoon. But I also am reminded that when an army of individuals do their part, a great deal of good can be accomplished. I keep getting hung up on the "unsung hero" part of their description, because I do not consider myself to be a hero with what we are doing. The real heroes to me are the volunteers that use their own automobiles every week to pickup bread and bagels and deliver them to the food pantries and residential programs within the community, the volunteers who drive our refrigerated truck to restaurants and big box grocery stores and load box after box of heavy frozen food and then offload them at local ministries, the volunteers that answer our phones, coordinate volunteers and routes each week, the volunteers that fill-in on a moments notice when one of our regular volunteers is sick or out of town, and the people that serve at the food pantries where we deliver the food that prepare it and distribute it to the folks in our community struggling with hunger. Those are the heroes in my eyes.
Second, I thought what a blessing it would be for Feed the Hungry Forsyth to receive some of the $50,000. To date this year, with the one refrigerated truck that we purchased at the end of 2012 and a small army of volunteers, we have collected and distributed 18,000lbs of food to the food pantries and residential programs in the county. We have already begun needing a second truck capable of handling pallets of food, and we are needing to hire a full time truck driver. I pray daily for more volunteers that can commit time to our cause since we cannot afford a full time driver, and I continue to wonder how we can move more food as it continues to become available.
I am grateful their are groups like the numerous generous caring people behind the Epoch Awards that desire to recognize the little people behind the scenes and their desire to shine a light on people working to make a positive difference in the world. And, I pray that everyone nominated benefits from being a part of the process.
