Sometimes, the very best way to minister to the world and disciple those around us is by meeting their needs. We are so encouraged by the way our friends at Food for the Hungry are meeting a very real physical need for people around the world! Whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual we believe the Church exists to minister those in plenty or in lack. Food for the Hungry does this so well and we can’t wait for you to read more about their mission.

Tell us about Food for the Hungry!

Food for the Hungry (FH) is a Christian relief and development organization with a vision to see all forms of human poverty ended worldwide. Motivated by our Christian faith, we work with the world’s most vulnerable people who live in and around communities in the hard places.

The world is hungry, but the emptiness goes far beyond the table. The need is both physical and spiritual. People are hungry for opportunity, starved for resources, and stripped of value. FH in 2021 is celebrating 50 years of providing life-changing resources such as clean water, medical aid, food, equal educational opportunities for girls and boys, livelihood training, and more. 

What does it look like for someone to be involved in your mission?

Our immediate responses focus on providing for basic needs and safety when people are impacted by unthinkable disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes and typhoons, and refugees fleeing life-threatening conflicts. 

Our longer term efforts involve coming alongside the most vulnerable to care for children and families at risk. We believe that when a community is equipped to care for its most vulnerable members, everyone is served, and poverty is eliminated. That’s why we seek to develop communities by focusing on children. As a result, the most immediate and effective way to become involved with FH in this effort is through Child Sponsorship.

When you sponsor a child through Food for the Hungry, you join FH in walking with that child – and with the child’s family and community – as they move from struggling to thriving. Through consistent monthly support, letters and prayers, you’ll make a life-changing difference for your sponsored child and their community. Sponsorship provides opportunities for education, clean water, stable nutrition and access to medical help. For $38 a month, you help us to work in that child’s community to provide these basic necessities. Sponsor a child now by visiting fh.org/child!

What is one of your favorite stories about the impact of your work?

We’re proud of the communities we enter, but we’re even more proud of the ones we exit. One of the things that distinguishes FH’s work is, when we enter a community, we have an exit plan. When our work is done, we have empowered a community to use their resources and gifts in the best way possible so they can own their transformation. 

El Kennedy is a community in the Dominican Republic that recently celebrated its graduation from extreme poverty. The community is now thriving and its residents are standing on their own.

“When their community graduates, what it looks like through the eyes of a child is that they have what they need, they can go to school, they are taken care of, and they have a future,” explained Rocio Cruz, FH Country Director for the Dominican Republic. 

Anianna lives in the El Kennedy community.

“I have been sponsored since I was 8 years old, and I am very grateful for the help FH has given us,” she says.

“In addition to providing vitamins and deworming medicine, FH taught our parents along with us, for instance, that we cannot allow accumulated water to sit because it leads to mosquitoes and we will get sick from dengue fever.”

Through child sponsorship, Anianna says, FH provided her family and community with a water purification system and built a school. Then, she said, “they even helped provide us with school supplies and assistance with our studies through afterschool programs.”