Last week, Team DAVIS MN partnered with Feed My Starving Children to help feed children in Haiti. Haiti struggles with severe poverty but also was recently hit by a hurricane last month. The hurricane demolished the available food supplies, leaving warehouses depleted. Our MN team had heard about this organization and volunteering opportunity and knew that they had to make a difference.
This devastation seemed to inspire people to step up, since there were many others volunteering their time as well. One of our recruiters, Stephanie, mentioned that there were even groups of 8-10 year old girls whose birthday parties were being held there; they spent their birthday parties volunteering for such a wonderful cause!
Before beginning to pack up the food, the staff at Feed My Starving Children shared a story with the group of volunteers. The story was of a young boy, who at the start of this story was 2 and half years old; his father was an alcoholic and his mother had passed away. He and his three siblings had no one, until a tribe of women found them and connected them with food from Feed My Starving Children. Now, that same little boy is 4 years old and has nearly doubled his body weight thanks to the food from this organization being sent to Haiti.
They were tasked to pack food (vitamins, vegetables, soy and rice) to feed children, which in some cases have not eaten for days. The food is packaged in a way that is easy to cook and consume by those who receive it. Our group packed a total of 30 boxes, totaling 1,200 packs of food. All groups involved were able to pack enough food, to feed 115 children for a year. Stephanie told us that the food packaging was getting a little competitive; everyone wanted to pack up the most food!
She also said that this experience was empowering, relaying, “It helps you realize what you do have, and what others don’t.” She hopes to volunteer again with her team in the near future!
One other amazing program that Feed My Starving Children runs, is one in which they partner with women from Haiti who hand craft ornaments. With the purchase of one ornament, you can feed a child for an entire year. This program is a perfect opportunity to help others this holiday season!
Feed My Starving Children holds mobile packaging stations throughout the US and run 5 packing shifts per day. To see if there is a mobile station in your area, check out this map!
