I’m hesitant to start an article off with a fact, but this one really stuck out to me; did you know that 1 in 5 children living in the state of New Jersey go hungry? And if that didn’t move you, put yourself in the situation of a girl who lives in Kenya who only eats a finger of food at school before packing it away for the rest of her family- motivated to help yet?

The United States is known as a country of greatness. It’s considered a country that helps those in need and gives people opportunity in life, a country that cares about independence and freedom for its people. I have believed this for as long as I can remember, but how can I continue to when so many people are sitting on the streets throughout the seasons and the years, homeless and starving? Naturally, like anyone, hearing such things makes me want to help out, and my first instinct is to go to a large city; New York, perhaps.

It was brought to my attention by Cheryl Alston, an exceptionally inspiring woman, that I don’t need to look far to make a difference in someone’s life. You can change a life for the better and start with your own community at the same time. This is the story of how Cheryl changing the life of one woman led to a difference in a community full of people.

It was originally meant to be temporary, as is everything else we do in life. Along with her church, Cheryl was delivering gifts through their “Angel Tree Ministry”. It was while doing this that people approached Cheryl and asked if they could donate food. This cry for help did not go unheard and as soon as they could, Cheryl Alston and Gregory Edwards, co-founders, began to run the MFH Food Ministry. Since 2009, the amount of food and household items that people receive has gradually increased. However, due to problems with transportation and size of the area, they relocated to a different church. Now, 250-300 families are fed a month. For me, thinking about these three hundred families that would have gone hungry otherwise prompts tears. I can’t even begin to imagine having no snack waiting to be eaten when I come home from school, forget having to skip whole meals at a time.

Cheryl has been a giver her entire life, someone who wants to do good for others. She was the student that would make friends with people no one wanted to be friends with; the type of person to make those who feel unwanted feel like they are loved. The food pantry rests on the idea that they “can’t feed you for the month, but can tide you over until you get more money”, which is Cheryl’s way of motivating people to go out and do everything they can to make their lives better. Her plans for the future of motivating people are to help people with job resumes and assistance in filling out applications. A Career Day is something she hopes to see happening. As for the MFH Food Ministry, “I hope that there’ll come a day when I don’t have to have a food pantry,” she says. Hopefully, with the help of anyone that is willing to donate time and effort like Cheryl does, that day will come soon.

Cheryl’s life, too, has been impacted since she began this food pantry. Each family that comes for help has a story, and those stories form a connection between the people in the church. One particular story that stood out to me was how an elderly woman, a grandmother, has a 12-year-old granddaughter who was battling cancer for a year and whenever she came to the food pantry, they would ask about it and talk to her and let her know that they are rooting for the granddaughter. Recently, she became cancer-free, which was a very emotional thing for everyone there since they journeyed through that year with her. Judging the people who come for help is wrong because you will never know everything they’ve been through and you will never know the struggle they face every day. This is precisely why Cheryl never turns anyone away if they don’t have the proper identification or documents required to receive food at the pantry. “Everybody always gets food, we don’t care about ID all the time,” she says.

The hope for humanity that I’ve been given from talking to Cheryl is that we can learn not to judge others and to simply help because the world isn’t as bad as we portray it; there are far more people with goodness in their hearts than there are not. There are far more people who want to help others than there are not, they just need to be reached. People suffering without food is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, they deserve far more than what they have. So, if it is in your heart this holiday season to make someone else’s life better, there’s no better way to start than to help out at your local food bank or even just to sit with the lonely kid at lunch. Nothing goes unnoticed when you try.

It’s to my sadness that I have to announce that co-founder of the MFH Food Ministry, Gregory Edwards, passed away two weeks ago. I offer his friends and family my sincere condolences.