Community Builder: Ministry helps ensure meals for Midlands kids

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - For some children in Richland County who may otherwise go without, leave school every Friday with a big bag of food in hand.

It's all thanks to a program called "Saks of Luv" at Bethlehem Baptist Church, and the woman who leads the charge, Jackie Walker-Mobley, is our latest Community Builder in partnership with Mungo Homes.

Every week Mobley and her band of volunteers form an assembly line with one mission in mind.

"It's hard to pack 100 bags, so we have two shifts and we do 200 bags a week," said Mobley.

Each bag is filled with food and is headed into the hands of a local child.

"Saks of Luv, which is the backpack program under Harvest Hope, provides a backpack full of food for that child so they can have food to eat over the weekend, and they are ready to learn on a Monday morning," said Mobley.

Now in its third year at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Richland County, Mobley says her team started Saks of Luv after realizing how many children in the local area were going without over the weekends and holidays

"We began to see the need and wanted to know how to address it," said Mobley. "We decided to reach out to our sisters in Kershaw and see what could be done," she added referencing sister churches through the Kershaw Baptist Association.

Mobley's team is now packing sacks for more than 160 school children and they have no plans to slow down.

"Jackie has a true heart for this ministry," said Gloria Glover, a volunteer with Saks of Luv. "She loves the children, and she loves the fact that we are able to give back to the community."

"She's a caring person, very compassionate," said Theodore Jackson, a deacon at Bethlehem Baptist Church. "We had four schools, and we just picked up a fifth school, and she refuses to say no. She'll help the whole world if she can."

That's why Theodore Jackson nominated Jackie as a Community Builder and why we got to surprise her with the news.

"Oh my goodness, thank you so much," said Mobley, adding that she was both surprised and honored.

"Everything that's going out to our children. They do not need to know who Jacqueline Mobley is," said Mobley. "They know that God has brought them a blessing, and that's all we want them to know is that God has brought them a blessing and we're here to pass it out."

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