Praying and feeding

In a July 21, 2013 homily in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said, “In our Christian life, may prayer and action always be deeply united.” This thought reflects James 2:15-17, “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” This is what Jesus taught, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink . . . Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:35, 40) Pope Francis is often quoted, “You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. This is how prayer works.”

That is the approach of Duplin Christian Outreach Ministries (DCOM), a crisis assistance center in Wallace, that recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Over the years, DCOM has expanded its outreach in Duplin County. One of the most important ministries is the partnership between DCOM and seven food pantries across the county. This food ministry is carried out by Beyond These Walls (Beulaville), Community Food Bank (Snow Hill), Community Mobile Pantry (Warsaw), Grace by Faith (Rose Hill), Helping Hands Food Pantry (Wallace), Kingdom Partnership Food Pantry (Beulaville), and Rose Hill Methodist Church Food Pantry. In the first seven months of 2025, these pantries have served approximately 4,700 households and 13,100 individuals in Duplin County.

As those numbers testify, the need is great, and those numbers don’t reflect the entire need in Duplin County. According to 2024 data, our county has a food insecurity rate of 19.8%, which equals 13,300 fellow citizens. 34% of children under 18 face food insecurity. Recent federal legislation cutting funding to the SNAP (food stamps) program is expected to affect more than 1,000,000 North Carolinians, including 1 in 6 children. One of the many expected effects of these cuts is a greater reliance on food banks, most of which are already struggling to meet the needs of so many people.

I share this information to call attention to the increasing need for food assistance and the efforts already being made across the county. I am sure there are many other food banks operating in Duplin County other than the seven listed in this article. I also provide this information to try to cut through the heated and divisive rhetoric and remind us of the faith imperative to feed hungry people.

Christians regularly pray “Give us this day our daily bread.” To pray that is to confess we are dependent on God as our Creator and Sustainer. To pray that while some of us enjoy an abundance of daily bread is to assume a responsibility for sharing that bread with others. We pray for the hungry, then we feed them.