WINONA LAKE – Grace College and Mission Point Community Church will facilitate the 11th annual Supermarket Sweep on Wednesday at Kroger, 2211 E. Center St., Warsaw.
The community is invited to participate by shopping for items between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. Grace volunteers will provide grocery lists that have been created by local food banks and collect the items once purchased.
Supermarket Sweep is a fun and easy way to help local families in a tangible way as the holiday season approaches, according to a news release from Grace. Participants shop for nonperishable food items and baby products which are then donated to organizations that support community members in need. This year, donations will go to Combined Community Services, the Salvation Army and Heartline Pregnancy Center.
Director of Student Involvement at Grace Kearstin Criswell, who conceptualized the event 11 years ago, encourages community members of all ages to get involved.
“Find colleagues to join you, and shop during your lunch break. Gather your book club, softball team or small group and make it a fun way to serve together. If you have kids — what an opportunity to show them the importance of taking care of our neighbors! Supermarket Sweep is a gift to the community from the community,” she said.
The day of shopping culminates with a game-show-inspired competition among teams of Grace College students, faculty and staff. Beginning at 9:15 p.m., groups “sweep” the store, shopping for items on their list and competing to earn additional gift cards to spend. At the end of the night, teams are awarded prizes for winning certain categories such as the most money spent, the most money saved and the most community or staff members present.
After the items are purchased, volunteers from Mission Point Community Church sort, pack and deliver the donations to the local food banks.
“The thought of putting food in the fridges, on the tables or in the pantries of people who may potentially be going to bed hungry is a really simple, really practical way to be the hands and feet of Jesus,” said Kondo Simfukwe, lead pastor at Mission Point Community Church. “No matter who you are, you can do something small or something big, but we know at the end of the day, it’s going to make a great difference.”
Criswell is also looking forward to another year of community impact.
“The past several years we have collected over $20,000 of groceries in 13 hours,” Criswell said. “Oftentimes, when we deliver the food to the foodbanks, they tell us that their shelves were completely empty, but because of the Supermarket Sweep, they are no longer. It’s our goal to make the shelves fuller than ever this year. We hope that many others will make plans to participate on November 3 and help us provide for our neighbors in need this holiday season.”
