Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first woman elected to this position in the denomination’s 233-year history, and presiding prelate of more than 200 churches in Texas, has joined forces with Minnie’s Food Pantry, to feed the growing number of North Texas families facing food insecurity. Bishop McKenzie will host a virtual edition of her annual leadership conference, SELAH: The Main Event, on November 20-21, 2020. The event is open to the public and forty percent of registration will go to Minnie’s Food Pantry. Attendees can register at bit.ly/SelahMainEvent.
Named one of the top eleven conferences for women who want to level up by Essence Magazine, Selah is a place for leaders to reset, refresh, and recalibrate. This year’s line-up includes power-packed speakers and performers, including Grammy-award winning recording artist, Marvin Sapp; author, Minda Harts; master entrepreneur, Gloria Mayfield Banks; author, Rev. Dr. Cecelia Williams-Bryant, preacher and author, including her newest book, “Together: A Biblical Meditation and Guide to Enrich Covenant Marriage”; Nicole Fortune, National Manager, Customer Relations Toyota Lexus Financial; Rev. Dr. Danielle Brown, pastor of church life at Cathedral International; Nicole Roberts Jones, nationally recognized transformational speaker and bankroll your brilliance expert; and Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie.
“There are thousands of families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of them have food security issues for the first time in their lives,” said Bishop Vashti McKenzie. “We felt compelled to support Chery Jackson and Minnie’s Food Pantry to help her help hurting families. We invite our Selah women and the Dallas Metroplex to join us.”
Each year, SELAH partners with an organization to make an impact in the community. This year, they are partnering with Minnie’s Food Pantry to feed families for the holidays. With the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, job loss and unemployment at an all-time high, the number of North Texas families facing food insecurity has increased by nearly 60% since this time last year.
“From March until June of 2020, more than 1.9 billion meals were distributed nationwide to people facing hunger. Minnie’s Food Pantry has distributed 3 million meals since March and food pantries are giving out 60 percent more food than an average month,” said Cheryl Jackson, CEO and founder of Minnie’s Food Pantry. “The need is greater than ever and generosity of neighbors all across the country is a necessity to keep up with this demand.”
More about this year’s SELAH conference is covered in This Week in The SMG Report