In meeting its purpose of addressing the causes and effects of hunger, poverty and crisis, the Festival of Sharing involves individuals and churches of 19 faith groups. The annual gathering is the third Saturday of October. Each year $1 million worth of financial material gifts benefit ministries that serve emergency and development needs of persons across the world. The Office of Creative Ministries staff coordinates the receipt and distribution of Festival resources.
All this began many years ago through the inspiration of Bishop Robert E. Goodrich. Back then it was a project of the United Methodists of Missouri and was called The Bishop's Convocation on Hunger for a few years. So successful was the event that other Christian denominations within the state wanted to participate. The name of the event changed but the focus has always remained the same, namely to fight hunger. The Festival of Sharing is coordinated by the Office of Creative Ministries which is a helping ministry of the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church.
For more information, visit the Festival of Sharing's official website.