Story via localdvm.com.

Food insecurity is an ongoing issue in the United States and a church in Frederick is trying to combat that instead of holding their usual Sunday service.

Collective Church in Frederick hosted their second annual grocery store buyout where shoppers swept through the aisles of a local Weis Markets grocery store, stocking up on items such as cereal, nonperishables, and other items that can be distributed to community members in need.

The food purchased during the buyout will be donated to three organizations around the city: the Frederick Rescue Mission, Blessings in a Backpack, and West Frederick Middle School. Collective Church reached out to the organizations to create a list of items that shoppers could purchase and donate.

The director of Next Steps at Collective Church and lifelong Frederick resident, Danielle Sexton, says she’s blown away by the generosity of everyday shoppers who donated items from their Sunday shopping trip.

“We’re just so excited and so blown away by people’s generosity at these events,” Sexton said. “You know, it wasn’t just our people as strangers inside of the store that wanted to get involved and it just means a lot to me that people want to feed hungry people in Frederick and fight food insecurity.”

During the grocery store buyout, Collective Church collected over 12,000 pounds of food that will be donated to community members in need all across Frederick.