La Croix Church, prison partner; inmates will pack meals for starving children

Southeast Correctional Center inmates will pack meals for children in need across the globe this spring.

John Wade, a former criminal justice professor at Southeast Missouri State University and active participant in La Croix Church's prison ministry, said the April 17 meal-packing event will produce 150,000 meals for Feed My Starving Children, an international organization devoted to bringing meals to children who would otherwise go without.

The prison ministry is partnering with SECC, Wade said, to raise a total of $34,000 to cover the cost of the meals, which are about 23 cents each.

No state money will be used for the project, Wade said, emphasizing the money will come from fundraisers and other initiatives.

La Croix Church has held Feed My Starving Children meal-packing events since 2008.

In December 2017, the packing event at the Osage Centre saw nearly 5,000 volunteers pack 750,000 meals over a weekend.

The scope of the prison event will be smaller, Wade said, with closer to 300 volunteer positions over one day.

But the opportunity for serving is there, he said.

SECC Warden Jason Lewis said the April meal-packing event will be the first of its kind at a prison in Missouri.

"We really have a good relationship with La Croix Church," Lewis said.

"They know I'm open to any of these kind of ideas and partnering with the community," Lewis added.

Lewis said SECC is a host site for Global Leadership Summit, a yearly, two-day conference broadcast from Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago.

In 2015, the summit was broadcast from SECC, thanks to coordination between Wade and his group, and SECC's administration, Lewis said.

SECC is a host site for the program, and "that's cool," Lewis said.

More than 100 inmates and about 25 staff members participate in Global Leadership Summit, he added.

In light of the existing efforts, he said, Wade and the prison ministry group approached Lewis about the meal-packing event.

Lewis said he was in favor of it as long as the inmate-led leadership organizations were interested.

Those inmate organizations hold meetings, have memberships, and do fundraising to help support community organizations and not-for-profits.

"We do anything from buying all of the WorkKeys ACT assessments for Sikeston schools to donating to backpack programs or food pantries," Lewis said. "The population does a lot of good fundraising and is involved with community organizations."

Lewis noted he, as the warden, doesn't dictate the causes different groups support.

"I said, 'You go do presentations to the organizations, and if they're on board, I'm on board,' simple as that," Lewis said.

The groups were interested in supporting this, Lewis said. "When it comes to the day we'll do it, everybody will be involved -- staff, inmates, volunteers, all together," Lewis said. "It's really going to be neat. We have a lot of stuff gong on here, but this will be something new."

Lewis said he knows other organizations, churches and school districts hold meal-packing events, but in this case, "it will be pretty unique to bring it inside and do it in the facility."

Lewis added this event is part of the facility's overall approach to restorative justice to help inmates build skills they'll need once they're outside: not just job skills, but soft skills such as being respectful and punctual, and understanding how to cooperate with others.

"Part of our work is about restructuring their way of thinking. 'The world doesn't revolve around you, you need to help the community, especially communities you've hurt,'" Lewis said.

Wade said he was involved in a similar meal-packing event at a correctional facility in Mississippi in 2017.

Unlike at the Osage Centre, Wade said, the packing room didn't have a dock, so volunteers had to carry all of the supplies and equipment from the loading area to the visiting room, which had been transformed into the packing area for the one-day event.

That event was successful, Wade said, "and of course, my gears were turning: we could do this in Missouri."

Carrie Wiggins, a development adviser with Feed My Starving Children based in the Chicago area, said having a packing event at a correctional facility involves certain considerations, such as packing the supplies so knives aren't necessary to open them.

But more important than those considerations, Wiggins said, is how powerful an experience it is for the inmates.

"From where they sit, they can have an impact on people all over the world, in a very positive way," Wiggins said.

"When we visited with the men (in leadership groups) at SECC, one gentleman said he's really looking forward to this, not only feeding kids, but because it can really initiate life change for the men packing the meals," Wiggins said.

Wade said it's been great to see La Croix Church's meal-packing events expand over the last decade, into other area churches, and now into correctional facilities in two states.

"Serving spreads," Wade said. "It's contagious."

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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