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 Press Releases Galveston County Daily News Guest Editorial on Gleanings From The Harvest and the city’s proclamation of Pastor Bill Ritter Day Because No One Should Go Hungry...
Mine did when I met Pastor Bill Ritter. Our Mayor proclaimed May 26th as “Pastor Bill Ritter Day” honoring the life of a man who had a passion for simply feeding hungry people. Bill’s vision of building a food bank here in Galveston is being realized today through the efforts of Gleanings from the Harvest for Galveston. On May 22nd, Gleanings from the Harvest for Galveston made good on Bill’s last request to take his twenty frozen turkeys and “Feed Galveston’s Hungry.” Gleanings and friends did that and more, distributing a full Thanksgiving-style meal for over 300 people on the front lot of Carnes Brothers Funeral Home. Around the holidays I would always feel a nudge to volunteer at a food pantry. But I never thought it would become my full time avocation. Yet I felt God tugging at me as I interacted with many of our elderly who were unable to afford nutritional food and was too embarrassed to admit their need for help. Think of how you would feel eating only one meal a day. That’s the plight of many of the elderly, children and single parent households here in Galveston. Because Galveston has so many low paying jobs, hunger is a major problem among the working poor who desperately want to improve their situation.
To learn more about Gleanings from the Harvest for Galveston or to join us at the dinner, please contact us by telephone at (409) 762-8641 or by email at mark@gfthgalveston.org Mark Davis |
A morning in April 2003, I awoke at 2:00 AM, amazingly alert and with this uncanny sense that I needed to get up and go for breakfast. Who would think that divine providence would occur in the middle of the night while eating a Denny’s grand slam breakfast? There I was sitting two chairs down from a man who was sharing his passion for feeding the elderly in our community. Bill Ritter. That morning Bill shared his desire to build a local food bank for the working poor here in Galveston. Bill died in February and last month I left my job to work full time to implement that vision.