The LUMC Snack Sack Ministry
By Guy Smith
Every Tuesday morning during the school year, volunteers organize in a downstairs classroom at Lexington United Methodist Church (LUMC), filling plastic shopping bags with a variety of snacks. For an hour or more, crackers, ramen, granola bars, fruit snacks, grits, oatmeal, and other ready to-eat or easy-to-prepare foods are picked out of bins and dropped into sacks. The sacks get tied, packed 10 to a shopping bag, and carted out into the hallway to designated school areas. Later that day, or the next, volunteers deliver the sacks to school sites and pick up empty shopping bags for next week.
Each week, the LUMC Snack Sack Ministry packs approximately 900 snack sacks for 15 school sites. That’s over 30,000 sacks a year. The sacks reach students at 11 schools in Lexington School District One, two schools in Lexington School District Three, and one school in Lexington School District Two.
The camaraderie among the volunteers from Lexington United Methodist Church, Faith United Methodist Church, and the broader community is evident. Mostly retired folks, the Tuesday ritual is a good way to stay active in the community, catch up with friends, hear the latest sports updates and local news, and get a little exercise.
But it’s much more important than that. Volunteers, and those who donate to the ministry, know the need is real. According to the Lexington County First Steps Annual Report (2024-2025), approximately 40% of young children in Lexington County live in poverty or low-income families. The 2025 South Carolina School Report Card Poverty Index (shared below) estimates an even higher level of poverty.
No matter how you crunch the data, the bottom line is that too many children in Lexington County live with some degree of food insecurity. Most of us can only imagine the stress that comes with that uncertainty or the impact that food insecurity has on children’s academic achievement, physical health, and mental well-being. Many, like me, are incredibly blessed and have NEVER personally experienced food insecurity, only missing meals when we choose to. Unfortunately, for too many of our neighbors, cutting back or missing meals is not a choice. It is a necessity and a fact of life.
The Snack Sack Ministry began in 2004, reaching a handful of students in one local school. Over the years, as the needs in our community came to the attention of the ministry leaders, and as more funding and volunteers became available, the ministry significantly expanded its scope. The mission, however, has remained the same: to lovingly share food with those in need. Two posters hanging in the Snack Sack room explain why we are there each week. Both are the words of Jesus. One reads: “I am the bread
of life,” and the other says: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.” While we hope that our small food contributions help children get through the weekend, our deeper prayer is that they and their families will soon no longer be in need, and that they, their children, and their children’s children will never experience hunger or food insecurity again. As a church ministry, we hope that our small
contribution to the great need around us makes a difference in children’s lives and in some way shares the love of Christ. While we do not know the individual children that receive our sacks, we know that each one deserves adequate shelter, good food, a quality education, and love.
All those who pack and deliver snack sacks are unpaid volunteers. Funding for the program comes from donations from church members, gifts from community members, grants from generous corporate and non-profit sponsors, and a generous food donation from a Midlands’ food company.
Donations are, of course, always appreciated and can be made electronically through the LUMC website at LexUMCSC.com/Give. Donations can also be made in person at LUMC, located at 309 East Main Street in Lexington.
Based on estimated food costs for the year ahead:
$70 will provide snack sacks for one child for the school year.
$120 will take care of snack sacks for one average school for a week.
$4,200 will cover snack sacks for one average school for a year.
If you would like more information about the Snack Sack Ministry, you can check it out at
LexUMCSC.com/Snack-Sack/OR you can contact Guy Smith, the Snack Sack Ministry Coordinator,
at [email protected].
