The statistics are sobering: 10,000 of the world’s children die each day from hunger and related causes, according to the United Nations.
In addition, UNICEF’s most recent report estimates that 36 million children younger than 5 are acutely malnourished across 32 countries.
Fortunately, volunteers in organizations like Feed My Starving Children are trying to do something about it. A Christian-based nonprofit formed 37 years ago in Chicago, Feed My Starving Children has delivered more than 4 billion meals to hungry children around the world through both its “corporate” packing sites and hundreds of MobilePack events spearheaded by volunteers in communities across America.
Never heard of Feed My Children? That’s probably because it doesn’t spend money on publicity. Nearly 100% of all donations go to the purchase of ingredients. The food is packed by volunteers and then shipped off to countries in greatest need to be distributed by partner organizations within those countries.
In fact, Charity Navigator has given the organization a four-star rating for the past 18 years, ranking it among the top 1% of charities evaluated for financial transparency and integrity.
In August, local residents will have an opportunity to join other volunteers in packing nutritious meals for hungry children. This will be the fifth MobilePack for the Beaches-based group. It operates out of Ponte Vedra Presbyterian Church but is not limited to church members.
“It’s open to everybody,” explained Greg Groshan, financial director for the local group. “They feed everybody. In fact, they have a Halal certification, because they want to feed Muslim communities. So, I don’t want anybody to feel they’re not welcome to contribute or volunteer. We help all children.”
The group hopes to pack 147,700 meals — 9.45 tons of food. To accomplish that, it needs about 700 volunteers — 120 for each of the two-hour shifts. Each shift will pack 25,000 meals.
If that goal is met, the food-packing event will provide 402 children with one meal a day.
“For many of these children, this is the only meal they will get that day,” said Groshan.
Volunteers can register as independents or in groups, which is ideal for families, businesses, church groups, clubs and more. In fact, the Ponte Vedra High School varsity football team has been a big part of these events. And students can earn community service credit for volunteering.
But manpower is but one of the group’s needs. Organizers must also raise a total $43,000 to pay for the meals, each of which costs only 29 cents.
“Even a dollar provides three meals to somebody,” said event chair Gary Graham. “Ten dollars can feed 35 kids, which happens to be a classroom size.”
Here’s a look at the cost of the meals:
In the group’s first four packing events, 2,291 volunteers packed 485,598 meals, feeding 1,330 children daily for a full year.
The MobilePack events will be held at 3 and 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, and at 9 a.m., noon and 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, at the Ponte Vedra Presbyterian Church, 4510 Palm Valley Road, Ponte Vedra Beach. Volunteers must first register at https://give.fmsc.org/jacksonville.
Donations are made there as well. Note that it’s important to include the “Jacksonville” portion of the website address or you will be connected to the larger organization rather than the local group.
For further information, email Graham at graham-gary@att.net.
