Text and Photos by Rachel Bedford

Light of the Village is a Christian ministry founded by John and Dolores Eads with the goal of bringing the light of Christ to the Prichard, AL area and shining a transformative message of hope and love to a community that is racked with violence and poverty. This ministry has been faithfully serving in a very special and incredibly impactful way for many years, as they work the frontlines six days a week in an effort to consistently offer support to individuals in a number of ways.

What they are committed to keeping at the forefront of their minds at all times is that they are serving individual people - unique people with their own likes and dislikes, passions and dreams, successes and mistakes, experiences and trials - all of which come together to make up the community. Despite all the darkness and hate around them, they fully believe that the light can be shone and their community beautifully transformed by the love of Christ, one individual at a time.

Some of the ways by which they are supporting the community are through various programs offered on-site. These include an After School program, Teen Night for fellowship and worship, Summer Bible Camp, Cross N’ the Hood, community outreach events, Lights of LOV Candles, etc. Because of these programs, those at Light of the Village are able to develop meaningful and lasting relationships with the people of the community that make an impact on the rest of their lives.

The outcome was not only equipping the kids with the knowledge to make healthy choices for themselves as much as possible, but also bringing community engagement between Feeding the Gulf Coast and individuals.

In partnership with Mobile United and the Leadership Mobile Class of 2021 Health and Human Services Project Team, Feeding the Gulf Coast Child Nutrition Program summer interns, Sarah Frances and Madeleine, and Kylie Purdy and myself were very honored to have the opportunity to go out to Light of the Village and give a presentation to the kids about a few nutrition basics. The Leadership Mobile Health and Human Services team project is focused around equipping children with skills to cope with stress and anxiety. For our presentation, we talked about food and mood and how nutrition affects their minds and bodies, the importance of variety in the foods they eat, and the different kinds of vitamins found in foods. We were excited to share with the children how healthy diets lead to not just healthy bodies but healthy minds and better emotional health because when we eat good things, we feel better. The children were very enthusiastic and engaged while they interacted with the presentation through a game and some fun prize giveaways. Each kid received a bag of fresh cucumber, zucchini, and squash. They also got recipe cards to give them fun ideas and ways to prepare the produce they were able to take home!

Often, food-insecure individuals do not have the option to choose the healthiest of foods to feed themselves and their families. Recognizing this, we showed the kids ways they could still strive for healthy choices, nonetheless, through things like playing outside, getting enough sleep, spending time with friends and learning about fruits and vegetables. Doing this was important because it makes a difference when the kids get to see our faces and when we get to see theirs. The outcome was not only equipping the kids with the knowledge to make healthy choices for themselves as much as possible, but also bringing community engagement between Feeding the Gulf Coast and individuals, furthering partnership and impact.