By Rich Remmbers, Watertown Public Opinion

Pastor Sara Nelson and the First United Methodist Church of Watertown are taking the scripture of Matthew 25 to a whole new level.

Photo: Rev. Sara Nelson, Watertown First UMC, speaks with a customer at a recent food giveaway. Photo by Rich Remmbers, Watertown Daily Republic.

The bible verse discusses feeding those who are hungry and clothing those in need of clothes. That’s exactly what the church and the group Feeding South Dakota did.

At the church on Wednesday, several people took advantage of a free sale where they could shop for winter clothing at no cost. At the same time, a total of 844 people were each given between 50 and 60 pounds of food at a giveaway in conjunction with the church and the organization Feeding South Dakota.

“In our church, we take Matthew 25 very seriously and that’s one of the reasons we wanted to do this food giveaway and free sale,” said Nelson. “I think it’s a huge blessing for many people in the area who are in need, especially around the holidays.”

To say that both the free sale and the food giveaway were a huge hit would be an understatement. Approximately 14,000 pounds of food was given away to people in need at the Readiness Center. That food included hams, fresh fruits and vegetables, potatoes, pizzas and many other different foods.

The food giveaway was the second one in the last four months put on by both the church and Feeding South Dakota. In August, a total of 811 people were issued shopping carts full of food at no cost.

Photo: Volunteers Harper Cummings, right and her mother Amy Cummings help a shopper pick out food during the First United Methodist Church and Feeding South Dakota food giveaway. Photo by Rich Remmbers, Watertown Daily Republic.

“Anyone is welcome to come and shop for themselves or for someone else at the food giveaways,” said Nelson. “They can go through from table to table and pick out what they like and that’s important to us. We know not everyone likes everything so they can choose what their family is going to eat.”

The need for food is certainly prevalent in the Codington County area and the state of South Dakota in general. According to Feeding South Dakota, one out of every eight individuals in the state is food insecure and one in every five children is at risk of going hungry.

Neil Hlebichuk, the eastern operations manager for Feeding South Dakota, has seen first-hand how many people in the state are in need of food in his short time with the organization.

“When I first started two years ago with this job, I really didn’t think there was much of a food shortage  problem around here but that quickly changed after doing a couple of these events,” said Hlebichuk. “People are in need and I’m glad we can do something like this to help them.”

Hlebichuk is in charge of getting the food obtained by Feeding South Dakota to different communities around the state. Feeding South Dakota gets its food through various sources, which includes producers, retail partners such as Hy-Vee, Walmart and Sam’s Club and other donors.

Feeding South Dakota serves all 66 counties in South Dakota and provides food for an estimated 190,000 people every year. Almost half of the individuals served by the group are children and infants and the total value of donated food annually to the organization is over $18.5 million.