The mission of the HeartFELT (Filling Empty Little Tummies) Ministry is to support the nutritional requirements of food insecure school students. Students participating in free and reduced-cost meal programs at their schools receive
food throughout the school week, but may not have enough to eat over the weekends.

The HeartFELT program provides a bag of food each weekend at no cost to the families.

To continue the HeartFELT ministry at Huntingtown United Methodist Church, together with Mount Harmony and Lower Marlboro United Methodist Churches, (to two elementary schools and two middle schools), we invite you to participate as a sponsor by donating to the cost of providing meals to a child. The annual cost to provide meals to a child is $400 per school year. Options are available to donate for a full or half year, and contributions can be made annually, semi-annually or in monthly increments. You may also choose to offer a one-time gift (any amount) to support the HeartFELT ministry.

YES! I want to support food-insecure children in Calvert County!

Five Facts About Hungry Children in America

  1. 11 million children face hunger in the U.S.

  2. Food-insecure kids face a higher risk of developing asthma

  3. Hungry children are more likely to repeat a grade in elementary school

  4. Nearly 30 million children in the US depend on free or reduced-priced lunch at school

  5. Food insecurity has been linked to mental health in youth

 FAQs

  • We deliver a bag for each participating student every week during the school year.

  • We partner with Huntingtown Elementary, Mount Harmony Elementary, Plum Point Middle and Northern Middle schools.

  • The Heartfelt bags are delivered to the four partner schools by volunteers each week. School counselors ensure that bags are picked up by participating students at each school.

  • We support over 50 students at our four partner schools. We support the largest number of schools and students in the Calvert County HeartFELT program.

  • Participating students receive a discretely packaged bag of food that contains two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners and snacks. On long weekends, additional meals are packed as needed. Each bag contains milk and fresh fruit. A typical breakfast is either oatmeal or cereal. Lunch items often include soup, tuna, macaroni and cheese or a similar pasta item, juice box and fruit cup. Dinner items include items such as chili, ravioli, beans and rice, beefaroni, or Vienna sausages, along with a canned vegetable. Snacks can include granola bars, yogurt, cookies, chips, or graham crackers. These items vary seasonally throughout the year and choices are made based on the availability of items for purchase from End Hunger. Supplemental food purchases are made from warehouse stores. Three times a year a $25.00 grocery gift card is provided to help supplement food purchases over long school breaks. These gift cards are distributed before Thanksgiving, Christmas/winter break, and Easter/spring break. These gift cards will automatically be included as part of the sponsorship program.

  • Volunteers pack bags each week at HUMC. If interested in packing, please email office.humc@comcast.net

  • As much as we appreciate the thought, with the number of students we support it is difficult to ensure uniformity of food items delivered. We have found it best if we purchase food in the bulk quantities needed.