“When I reflect on Serve Day at Allison Park Church and the idea that a ‘spark’ can ignite a movement, I can’t help but think of a little girl named Grace Ryan Jamieson.

A few years ago, Grace Ryan attended a Meal Packaging Event at Charter Oak Church in Greensburg, PA. She was so excited about the idea of serving and making a difference in the world, she invited her Grandfather, Russ, to attend with her.  Russ is a member of the Allison Park Church Hampton Campus. When Russ witnessed the passion in his granddaughter serving, it ignited something in him. He couldn’t keep the spark to himself.

Russ brought his ‘spark’ to Allison Park Church and presented the idea to Pastor Jeff Leake and Network of Hope to host a Meal Packaging Event with Rise Against Hunger.

They fell in love with the idea of hosting a Meal Packaging Event for the world’s hungriest on their annual Serve day. The first year, several thousand meals were packaged and sent overseas. Last year, 33,000 meals were sent overseas to Malawi, Africa. This year, we more than tripled our efforts by packaging 100,000 meals. Soon, we will find out which part of the globe our meals have gone. It will be exciting to see our project come full circle!

As you can see, a spark of passion from Grace Ryan (age 7 at the time!) burst into a mighty movement at Allison Park Church, as we have grown this event into something pretty incredible! This year, Grace’s smile was bigger than ever when she served alongside her grandfather to package 100,000 meals with nearly 500 other volunteers.

One tiny spark stirring in the heart of a little girl — that tiny and fiery feeling filled with passion, creativity, love and hope — ignited something in her grandfather, who felt compelled to share it with others. Isn’t it amazing what one spark can do?”

This post was originally published by Allison Park Church, written by Julie Mikus. Read the original post in its entirety here.

The post One Girl’s Spark Ignites a Movement appeared first on Rise Against Hunger.