The early morning arrival of 40,500 potatoes was greeted with joy

For three decades, Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) and the Orphan Grain Train (OGT) have worked together to bring needed resources to people in El Paso and Juarez. From working with the Norfolk branch to the Indiana and Houston, as well as the Wisconsin, it has been possible to provide clothing, medical equipment, school supplies, toys, blankets, bicycles, furniture, and food to thousands upon thousands of people throughout our Border Cities.

This month, the OGT Wisconsin branch delivered 40,500 fresh potatoes early on a Friday morning. By late afternoon that same day, several pallets had been picked up by the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger, the Rescue Mission of El Paso, and the Pedro Zaragoza Foundation of Juarez. On Saturday morning, over a hundred families received a bag of potatoes each.

Dozens of families in Anapra, Mexico were blessed by these bags of potatoes

Rosy Lira, deaconess of three of the mission-churches in Juarez, distributed potatoes, along with other food items, to several dozen families that come to the Anapra mission-churches for help to feed their children. Rosy has been working for over twenty years with YLM, serving thousands with love and compassion, taking the opportunity to share God’s Word as she shares the tangible proof of His love through the gift of food and assistance.

Potatoes were taken into remote areas of Chihuahua

Working with the Juarez non-profit organizations, several hundred potato bags were taken into the sierra, where the Tarahumara Indians of Chihuahua were blessed with this help, along with beans and other non-perishable food items. The Rescue Mission of El Paso also works with non-profits in Juarez to get needed resources in other areas where they are needed, and along with providing for their shelters located in El Paso, they’ve sent several hundred bags over to Juarez, which is a large city of over 1.2 million people.

Pastor Sosa, who oversees several refugee shelters along the Texas/Mexico border, picked up several pallets of potatoes, moving quickly to distribute them through the shelters that are full of people seeking refuge in the United States.

A bag of potatoes may not seem like much, but when God blesses with thousands of bags of potatoes, it does more than feed people –it gives hope to those who feel they are not seen in their hunger and pain. It gives strength to those who feel like there is so much more need than there are resources. With God’s love and grace, these potatoes will be changing many lives, as they’ve done before.