Thousands of families from throughout the Rio Grande Valley attended the Love Jesus Festival held at the Mercedes Livestock Show Grounds in Mercedes Saturday, to receive a much welcomed blessing.

"Every family that comes is getting a 30-pound bag of groceries and it's a variety of stuff inside the bags,” Pastor Steve Martinez, of the Church of ACTS in Elsa said. ”Also we have moon-jumps, we're going to give out a car, and different bikes to all the kids.”

Martinez said the more than 300,000 pounds of food for the event came from churches across the Valley and the country. It's part of the Way of the Cross Ministries, that usually distributes the food to colonias in Mexico.

"Usually, with Way of the Cross Ministries, we used to go across the border and do it before in Mexico,” Martinez said. “But with all the violence (there), we came and did it here in the Valley."

The multitude of families that attended the event to walk away with a week's worth of groceries, made organizers realize the need is just as great at home.

"It's just about the same (in the Valley),” Martinez said. “Sometimes people say, ‘We didn’t' know there's poverty here in some colonias.’ But if you go to some colonias, you just see what you see in Mexico."

Jennifer Garcia of Mercedes and her children picked-up a box of food to take home. She said the free food will help her save a few dollars.

"It is an awesome help, I think it's a relief for a lot of families and it's a positive (event)…the kids are out here having fun," Garcia said.

Besides taking the food home, Martinez said he hopes people also left with a valuable lesson.

"One of the main things, is that we just tell the Valley, that the local church loves them, but most important, God loves them so much and has a plan for their lives," Martinez said.