MAGIC is Happening!
How Have We Been Investing in Children?
“Doubling our efforts to meet growing needs.”
As the winter break approached, our local food pantry,
Jesus Focus Ministry Food Pantry at Bethanna, was serving twice the number of school-aged children as in the previous year – 1,388 children were served by the pantry in November!
We decided to double our MAGIC Meals Program to ensure that families received meals for every child during the holiday break. With your support, we were able to deliver healthy breakfast and lunch packages, 1,440 meals, to feed children in our community.
“Granting endowments to support foster and adoptive families and adoptees.”
We are thrilled to announce that Holt-Sunny Ridge is the recipient of a $5000 grant awarded by MAGIC Charities to support post-adoption therapeutic services for adoptive and foster families in Illinois.
These funds will directly benefit families through an endowment for therapy services for uninsured or under-insured families, plus sponsorship for one foster family to attend the Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)® training series and another to attend the Journey of Hope 2021 family camp.
Learn more about this partnership on our Adoptive Families & Foster Care Page.
“Giving emergency relief to college students.”
Due to the unprecedented needs facing college students during the COVID-19 pandemic, a MAGIC Scholarship Fund endowment of $2500 was granted to support local college students attending Bucks County Community College. 
Scholarship funds were approved to aid students with both academic and non-academic barriers that may prevent their ability to complete the semester. The MAGIC Scholarship Fund provided eleven college students with highly subsidized laptops and other school supplies needed to complete the semester.
In conjunction with emergency aid funding, MAGIC Meals expanded its scope to include college students facing food insecurity. MAGIC worked in partnership with the BCCC Foundation to deliver approximately 2,000 pounds of healthy foods to college students.
“Partnering with our community to feed children.”
Through a partnership with the Bucks County Opportunity Council, MAGIC took part in the Philabundance LunchBox program. In summer 2019, MAGIC delivered 600 boxed lunches from Philabundance to our local pantry, Jesus Focus Ministry at Bethanna, to feed school-aged children! 
In December 2019, MAGIC launched its own Meals Program and delivered an additional 1,200 breakfasts and lunches to our local pantry to feed K-12 school children during the days off from school during winter and spring breaks. This effort was funded through private donations and a generous grant from Giant Foods. All meals are packaged by volunteers in our MAGIC community
“Sending a low-income child to one week of summer camp on an organic farm.”
Social workers in Bucks County encouraged MAGIC to consider supporting a camp program. For a low-income child, a child living in a stressful home situation, or a food insecure child, the opportunity for summer camp can have a major impact. Being in a positive environment, having a sense of belonging, eating daily meals and continuing to learn throughout the summer positively impact a child’s physical and mental well-being.
Children who rely on the school lunch program, a qualifier for financial need at Snipes, also get the added benefit of daily lunch and snacks in these programs.
Snipes Farm and Education Center camp meets several of the 2019 goals set for the child health and well-being initiative: to feed children in need, to increase opportunity for fresh foods and to teach children about nutrition and healthy food choices.
“Supporting our local food pantry.”
In Spring 2019, we held our first food drive. We were thrilled to deliver almost 250 pounds of food to our local pantry. Jesus Focus Ministry Food Pantry is a part of Bethanna, a decades-long provider of foster care and family services. On average, the pantry feeds 600 children per month.
We had received a tour of the pantry and saw some empty shelves which we were told were full only a couple of weeks earlier. The Director commented, “As fast as it comes in, it goes back out to our community.” So, when JFM Food Pantry posted a note that shelves were bare, we wanted to help!
Supporting food pantries is supporting children and families in the community. We hope to expand our efforts of delivering fresh, healthy foods to children through local food pantries.
“Donating to community programs serving children and families.”
It was a pleasure to learn from and volunteer with an organization feeding children on days off from school. H.A.T. Packs sends 163 meals per week to children in the Hatboro-Horsham area.
MAGIC’s donation to the Spring Break bags filled 165 bags with two “staple” items each: juice and oatmeal. There were 22 more items sent to each child (two bags each) for the long weekend including milk, cereal, lunch items and snacks. 
MAGIC also donated diapers and children’s books to the Community Service Corps event at Conwell Egan Catholic High School – a holiday “shopping” event for low income families and families living in the local housing shelter.
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