Feed My Starving Children to host New Year's Eve event
With Illinois locations in Aurora, Libertyville, and Schaumburg, national nonprofit organization Feed My Starving Children is offering local volunteers a meaningful way to spend New Year's Eve: packing meals for children around the world and covering the costs with a gift of $50 per volunteer.
At FMSC meal-packing, adults and children age 5 and older hand-assemble MannaPack meals consisting of rice, soy nuggets, dehydrated vegetables, and a flavoring with 20 vitamins and minerals. The fun activity draws families and groups together, while feeding the hungry.
The special holiday meal-packing sessions are called “Fully Invested” because volunteers are asked to invest both time and treasure to feed the world's hungry. Normally, FMSC does not require a donation, but several times a year FMSC gives volunteers the chance to become fully invested by packing meals and investing financially in them as well. Those unable to invest financially are invited to attend one of FMSC's regular packing sessions.
The $50 donation per volunteer (or $150 per household) required for the holiday packing sessions covers the cost of one box of 216 MannaPack meals, which feeds a child for seven months.
Shifts are available from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 31, but space is limited; reserve a spot at fmsc.org/FullyInvested. Feed My Starving Children's Illinois locations are at 555 Exchange Court, Aurora; 742 East Park Ave., Libertyville; and 1072 National Parkway, Schaumburg.
We spoke with Toni Antonetti, who handles public relations for Feed My Starving Children in the Chicago Area about the upcoming packing event:
Q: Can you give us a general overview of what Feed My Starving Children does?
A: Feed My Starving Children is a Christian nonprofit organization that provides nutritionally complete meals for starving, malnourished and hungry people. The prepackaged dry meals — costing less than a quarter each to make — are funded and assembled by donor-volunteers in the United States. Our in-country partners use the food to prevent starvation and curb malnourishment in children and families worldwide. FMSC food has reached more than 70 countries in our history.
Each year, volunteers — from families, churches, businesses and civic groups — hand-pack meals at one of the permanent sites or MobilePack events around the U.S. Working as teams in two-hour shifts, volunteers fill and seal bags of food, enjoying a fun atmosphere and the satisfaction of making a measurable impact on hunger. Volunteers and other donors pay for 100 percent of FMSC meals. FMSC receives no government aid.
FMSC partners with community-builders, providing food to hundreds of missions and human service agencies around the world — organizations that know how to get things done in challenging conditions. Working in their own cultures, our partners use the meals to operate schools, orphanages, hospitals, ministries and feeding programs; development work that not only feeds people for today, but transforms the very futures of the children, families, communities and the nations they serve.
Permanent packing facilities are located in Aurora, Libertyville and Schaumburg, Illinois; in Chanhassen, Coon Rapids and Eagan, Minnesota; and in Mesa, Arizona.
Q: How long has Feed My Starving Children been active?
A: The organization was founded in 1987 to help ensure that every child and person around the world is healthy, nourished and whole in both body and spirit. FMSC is the original and largest supplier of nutritionally complete, packaged dry meals for the world's hungry.
Q: How does Feed My Starving Children help people?
A: FMSC provides nutritionally complete meals for starving children in 70 countries around the world.
Q: Tell us the story of someone who was helped by your charity.
A: (From Feed My Starving Children's 2014-15 Annual Report) When FMSC CEO Mark Crea and Sherry Burnette from Love A Child first discovered Nelson in the impoverished village of Old Letant, Haiti, he was desperately malnourished. A serious case of rickets (caused by severe malnutrition) made movement extremely painful. His mother couldn't provide for him. Most days he sat outside, alone and without food or water. Unable to stand on his frail legs, Nelson ate dirt to quiet his hunger pains.
His mother gave permission for Nelson to stay at the Love A Child orphanage, where he was weaned onto FMSC MannaPack Rice.
After one month, Nelson was slowly healing and trying to stand!
Now after a year of love, attention and consistent FMSC meals, Nelson is healthy and thriving! He charms everyone with his beautiful smile and playful, adorable personality. He started school in September 2014.
For more stories, see the annual report, at www.fmsc.org/file/annualreport.pdf.
Q: What are the packing events usually like? What do volunteers do?
A: The two-hour sessions begin with a brief video and instructions, a prayer and then groups of volunteers, ages 5 and up, work as teams at packing stations to fill and seal MannaPacks — fortified meals that are nutritionally complete with a blend of 20 vitamins and minerals to fuel healthy development. The meals include MannaPack Rice, MannaPack Potato-D for diarrhea patients, and MannaPack Potato-W for weaning toddlers.
Volunteers put the MannaPacks in boxes, which are then shipped to 70 countries around the world and distributed through our partners in orphanages, clinics, relief centers, and schools.
The packing sessions, accompanied by lively music, attract groups from schools, churches, clubs and families.
Q: What other volunteer opportunities does Feed My Starving Children have?
A: FMSC volunteers often host meal-packing events with friends and family to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, weddings and bar mitzvahs; they are also invited to fundraise for FMSC at their schools, churches and clubs.
Volunteers can also work with their local organizations and churches to host MobilePack events. Feed My Starving Children MobilePack events allow people across the United States to pack life-giving meals. In 2014, nearly 250,000 MobilePack volunteers packed nearly 63 million meals, with more than 230 events in 37 states.
Q: What do you see as the draw of the event?
A: Getting together with family and friends to help others in a welcoming environment. The events are fast-moving and exciting, and videos of the children that FMSC has helped enable the volunteers to see the results of their labors.
Q: Is there anything new or different about this year's event compared to previous years, or to packing events at other times of the year?
A: During the holidays, FMSC hosts “fully invested” events. On New Year's Eve, we will have fully invested sessions from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at all three Chicago area packing locations — Aurora, Libertyville and Schaumburg. At the fully invested sessions, volunteers are asked to donate $50 per person (or $150 per household). Volunteers feel a special connection and commitment at these sessions.
Q: How many people do you expect this year and how many meals are you expecting to pack?
A: We are expecting a total of 440 volunteers (140 in Aurora and Libertyville; 160 in Schaumburg) and will be packing an estimated 600 boxes of food, for a total of 129,000 meals that will provide one meal a day to 355 children for a year.
To date from Jan. 1, 2015 the three Chicago area sites have packed 84,377,088 meals and welcomed 303,862 volunteers. Chicago area volunteers will probably pack another 4 million meals from now until the end of the year.
Q: How can people who are unable to attend the event help out?
A: People can volunteer at the three Chicago area facilities throughout the year. Packing sessions are held six days a week. Sign up online at fmsc.org/volunteer.
People can donate to help pay for meals by going to the website at fmsc.org, or they can purchase items from the FMSC Marketplace, which also go to purchase meals. Many of the marketplace items (which are also available at the packing sites in Aurora, Libertyville and Schaumburg) are crafted by artisans in the areas that FMSC serves.
Q: How many meals does Feed My Starving Children provide each year?
A: Last year, nearly 900,000 volunteers packed 229 million meals for starving children in 70 countries. Meals packed total more than one billion since the organization began in 1987. FMSC has received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator for 10 years in a row, placing FMSC in the top 1 percent of more than 8,000 charities for integrity and trustworthiness. Ninety-two percent of total donations are devoted to feeding programs.