Bread for the World

Bread for the World is a Christian organization that encourages the involvement of the United States in ending world hunger. Through influencing our nation's decision makers and pushing for changes in policies, programs and conditions that allow hunger and poverty to persist, this organization provides help and opportunity far beyond the communities in which we live.

Members of this organization personally write letters, send emails, meet with representatives in Congress, work through churches, campuses, and other organizations to spread the knowledge and inspiration needed to increase involvement and action. Bread for the World believes in ensuring that everyone has enough to eat and are not limited because they cannot afford to feed their family, saying, "Food is a basic need and it is unjust that so many people go without enough to eat."

They are asking for as much help as possible in this issue, urging others to take a step in ending world hunger whether its by donating to a organization such as Bread for the World, starting a fundraiser at your school, writing a letter to Congress, raising awareness of others, or volunteering your time to package or serve food. There are endless possibilities to what one person can offer and every bit helps.

Hunger Facts

1. An estimated 923 million people in the world go hungry.
2. In developing countries nearly 16 million children die every year from preventable and treatable causes. Sixty percent of these deaths are from hunger and malnutrition.
3. In the United States, 11.7 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. That means one in ten households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger. (This fact and above are from www.bread.org)
4. More than 153 million of the world's malnourished people are children under the age of 5.
5. Six million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger.
6. Malnutrition can severely affect a child's intellectual development. Malnourished children often have stunted growth and score significantly lower on math and language achievement tests than do well-nourished children.
7. Lack of dietary diversity and essential minerals and vitamins also contributes to increased child and adult mortality. Vitamin A deficiency impairs the immune system, increasing the annual death toll from measles and other diseases by an estimated 1.3 million-2.5 million children.
8. While every country in the world has the potential of growing enough food to feed itself, 54 nations currently do not produce enough food to feed their populations, nor can they afford to import the necessary commodities to make up the gap. Most of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa.
9. Most of the widespread hunger in a world of plenty results from grinding, deeply rooted poverty. In any given year, however, between 5 and 10 percent of the total can be traced to specific events: droughts or floods, armed conflict, political, social and economic disruptions (above are from www.care.org)
   

Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a Christian nonprofit organization of which we have both been active in numerous times and highly reccommend. Here volunteers are able to hand-pack meals which are then sent to locations all around the world, such as in 2007, they sent food to: Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Tanzania, Liberia, Ghana, Guatemala, Malawi, Cambodia, Nicaragua, India, and Indonesia. FMSC has been around since 1987 and was introduced by a Minnesota businessman who was affected by the sight of severe hunger in Honduras. Ninety-five percent of all income goes directly to the purchase of goods needed for FMSC's food program, their mission statement being: "Feeding God’s Starving Children Hungry in Body and Spirit."

Their locations are at:

Brooklyn Park (Coorporate office):
6750 West Broadway,
Minneapolis, MN 55428
763.504.2919

Chanhassen:
18738 Lake Drive East
Chanhassen, MN 55317
952.937.2329

Eagan:
990 Lone Oak Road, Suite 160*
Eagan, MN 55121 USA
651.379.2775

Chicagoland:
555 Exchange Court
Aurora, IL 60504
630-851-0404

Also visit their website for more information about the organization and volunteering system:
http://www.fmsc.org/