By Pastor Christy Suffecool*

On a very cold Saturday in January, East Ohio youth showed up and stepped up to help feed thousands of people around the world. Project Feed 2024 was a collaborative partnership of the Conference Council on Youth Ministry, the United Methodist Church of Berea (Northern Waters District), and Midwest Missions. More than 120 youth and adult leaders from all over East Ohio came together at UMC Berea and assembled and packaged 25,200 meals to be shipped around the world for families struggling with food insecurity.

The success of this event is due to our connectional relationships and a willingness to collaborate in new and creative ways. It was such a blessing to experience the energy and excitement that our youth brought to this event. I am so proud of all our students and their willingness to serve.

“It was a joy to host youth from all over East Ohio for Project Feed. God is surely at work in these young people, and their energy and passion filled our space. There’s a lot that goes on in Wesley Hall – worship, discipleship, service – and hosting our fellow United Methodists in all of those is always a privilege,” added Carrie Antczak, associate pastor of UMC Berea.

After all the meals were packaged, UMC Berea hosted a lock-in focused on Heroes of Justice. Forty youth stayed to continue digging into what it means to work for a more just world. They completed projects highlighting different faith and justice heroes throughout history, and the following morning reflected on how they, too, can be heroes for justice through their faithful living and serving.

“We continued to build relationships among our young people over this weekend. Many of them met this past summer and became friends serving together in Charlotte, North Carolina, and then learning and growing together at Youth 2023 in Florida. It was great to see them reunited and excited to be working together again, and to welcome new youth and their leaders into this fellowship,” shared Antczak. “It’s clear – and so full of promise – to know that our young people have this greater sense of what it means to be United Methodist. Yes, it’s serving out of our discipleship, but it’s also the connectional aspect of it. They get and value that our little local faith family is a part of a really big extended United Methodist family. And it’s missions like that, that grow that understanding.”  

The next Project Feed will take place this November. If your church is interested in hosting or supporting the next Project Feed, please e-mail me at csuffecool@eocumc.com.

View, download photos from, and share the Project Feed Flickr album.

The Conference Communications team would like to share other stories that highlight ways that each of us is answering the call of Bishop Tracy S. Malone to reach out to our communities in creative ways. Please e-mail your ministry story to EOC Executive Director of Communications Rick Wolcott at wolcott@eocumc.com.

* Pastor Christy Suffecool is the Connectional Ministries office Young People’s Ministries co-director for the East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church.