“Friends, our neighbors across North and South Dakota need us to be like Jesus the Waymaker. The 2021 Miracle Offering: Feeding the Dakotas is a hope-bringing, spirit-fueled activity that will have a lasting impact on thousands of hungry people across the Dakotas Conference.”
-Bishop Laurie Haller

The 2021 Miracle Offering was dedicated to food insecurity needs in the Dakotas, and the process is continuing toward distribution. The Missional Impact Link set an initial goal of $75,000 and partnered with Feeding South Dakota and the Great Plains Food Bank. Both feeding partners agreed to match the Dakotas Conference up to $25,000 each, potentially raising a total of $125,000 if the original goal of $75,000 was reached. All Miracle Offering donations will be distributed in three equal parts, one-third each to Feeding South Dakota, Great Plains Food Bank, and the Dakotas Conference.

The Conference will use its portion to establish a grant program to fund local church feeding initiatives. The Missional Impact Link is currently developing criteria for the application process; it is expected those application forms will be available in October and announced in This Week @ Dakotas. Feeding South Dakota and Great Plains Food Bank will coordinate with the Missional Impact Link for distribution of their portions of the Miracle Offering.

As of August 31, a total of $46,881 has been collected from more than 120 churches, individuals, and groups.  Checks have already been written in the amount of $13,000 to each partner organization thus far with more funds being distributed as additional contributions are received at the Conference Office.

In addition to collecting and distributing the Miracle Offering, the Missional Impact Link is highlighting monthly efforts to promote continued service to hunger needs in the Dakotas. The September focus is for our local churches to partner with the schools in their areas to start backpack food assistance for families in need. Several churches already provide backpack programs; if your church is one of these, please share your information with the Conference Communication team so your efforts can be shared and duplicated by others across our connection. Your Missional Impact Link folks would also like to hear about any other feeding initiatives local churches have offered in their communities; please contact Conference Communications with your story.

More updates will follow as the Missional Impact Link shares future monthly events to combat food insecurity, and offer our sisters and brothers daily bread, after the example of Christ.

If you need additional resources to promote the Miracle Offering in your church, please download them here. 

(This article was updated Sept. 7, to include the dollar amounts of gifts and distributions of the 2021 Miracle Offering to date.)