When Danny Marquez, the Youth For Christ USA (YFC) City Life ministry director for central Indiana, heard that students were having difficulty getting to their schools to pick up meals being distributed in the wake of COVID-19, he knew he and his team had to step in.
Like in a multitude of communities around the country, closed schools meant no school lunches – a service thousands of families have come to count on. Many districts began offering pick-up lunches amid the pandemic, but without transportation, some students and their families had no way to access the food.
So the Youth For Christ Central Indiana team mobilized and began picking up and delivering meals for them. For some others, Marquez made it a family affair, with his wife, Amanda, and mother-in-law, Teresa, making homemade pasta dishes while also working with individual donors and community centers who gave food or funds or even cooked meals themselves.
“As real needs become evident in nearly every neighborhood across America, we are honored that Youth For Christ chapters all around the country can serve as Jesus’ hands and feet in very tangible ways,” said Youth For Christ President Dan Wolgemuth. “Food is a way that we can feed and nurture physically, but the ultimate hope and prayer is that, at the same time, we will be able to feed and nurture spiritually with God’s word and His never-wavering truth and hope.”
In Indianapolis, Marquez was committed to ensuring that the 11- to 19-year-old participants in City Life wouldn’t go hungry after the coronavirus pandemic all but shut down the city. Over three weeks the group delivered more than 300 meals.
“It feels good to be able to provide for the needs,” Marquez told the newspaper. “We are faith-based, we love God and we want to make sure people know the love of God is real and reigning in our hearts.”
Youth For Christ is telling inspiring stories like this one through #YFCBeTheStory, an initiative to help spread the word across the nation about how YFC chapters are making a difference in their communities.
On May 19, Central Indiana Youth For Christ hosted an online #YFCBetheStory event at noon with the hopes that many would join the chapter on a “journey through the mission and passion of Central Indiana Youth for Christ.”
Youth for Christ has been a pillar of missional ministry since 1944, when the Rev. Billy Graham served as YFC’s first full-time staff member. Since then, Youth For Christ has continued to be both a rural and urban ministry on mission, and always about the message of Jesus. YFC reaches young people everywhere, working together with the local church and other like-minded partners to raise up lifelong followers of Jesus who lead by their godliness in lifestyle, devotion to the Word of God and prayer, passion for sharing the love of Christ and commitment to social involvement. Youth For Christ operates in over 100 nations and has more than 160 chapters impacting communities across America.
Youth For Christ actively serves the area from 465 to Washington Street and in the Southport area.
Visit the Youth For Christ media page here. Learn more about Youth For Christ at its website, yfc.net, Facebook and Instagram pages, Twitter feed @yfcusa or on Vimeo.
