Your Children Can Help Feed Starving Children!

Are you a parent that wants to expose your children to valuable lessons?  Do you want them to help others?  Are you looking for meaningful activities that they can be engaged in?

Well, look no further!  I've got just the experience for you and your family...

My own family just recently tried this for the first time and it was such a hit.  All three of my girls (ages 13, 11, and 7) raved and raved about it afterwards!  Do you know how rare that is to have all three actually agree that the same activity is fun?!  Even I, my husband, and father-in-law enjoyed this experience!

So what is this awesome and meaningful activity that your entire family can engage in?


Have you heard of the organization Feed My Starving Children?

It is a non-profit Christian organization that is trying to eradicate hunger all over the world.  They send meals to about 70 different countries.  The meals are sent to orphanages, schools, clinics, and feeding programs to specifically help malnourished children. 


They are able to do this with the help of volunteers.  Volunteers of various ages, from as young as five to senior citizens like my father-in-law, can participate.

You can sign up to volunteer at one of their permanent sites (in Illinois, Minnesota, or Arizona) or sometimes they will have MobilePack events which they schedule throughout the country on certain dates.  You can sign up on their website www.fmsc.org and there is no minimum number for your group, so it could be just your immediate family.  But it would more fun if you invited some of your friends and/or your children's friends.  The more, the merrier!

The site my family visited was in Schaumburg.  A friend from high school generously invited us to join her group.  We had six children all together, ranging from six years old to thirteen. 

The minimum age to volunteer is five years old which is wonderful.  In previous years, I wanted to sign my family up to help at soup kitchens but the places I looked up would not allow young children which was a big disappointment. I'm glad FMSC allows children five and up to volunteer.

Let me tell you... My family had sooooo much fun!

The girls' job was to scoop specific ingredients into a funnel while I was in charge of the bags - getting them ready for the funnel and holding each bag under the funnel so the ingredients wouldn't spill.  My father-in-law was in charge of weighing; making sure that each bag met weight requirements and adjusting them by either adding or subtracting scoops out of the bags.  Dawn's sister-in-law sealed the bags, while Dawn's husband counted and packed our boxes.  Dawn, her girls and their friend had similar jobs to mine & my girls'.  My husband and Dawn's brother volunteered for warehouse duty - doing more of the heavy lifting and packing.

It was work.  But, for some reason, it was a lot of fun!

Maybe it was because we knew that what we were doing was going to help others that are less fortunate.
Maybe it was because of the loud and upbeat music that they played.
Maybe it was all the vitamin powders we were inadvertently sniffing as we packed.
Whatever the reason, the time just flew by and we truly enjoyed ourselves.

After about an hour and a half, a FMSC staff member stopped us and instructed us on how to clean up our stations.  The children eagerly and diligently cleaned up.  (No complaints or whining here, so unlike when it's time to put toys away at home!)

Then after all the cleaning was done, we were invited to join a group prayer.  We were also told anyone who did not want to join the prayer could wait in another section of the room.

A FMSC staff member led the prayer.  First she started with expressing gratitude for the opportunity for all of us to participate in this experience of helping the less fortunate.  Then she prayed for the 77 boxes that we packed to reach their designated destination safely (which for this night was Swaziland in Africa).  She also prayed that the children who received the boxes would feel our love and God's love and that they would be nourished in body, mind, and spirit.  Finally, she prayed for all the volunteers, that we would feel touched and that we would all go home and share the love with others.

I have to say that yes, I was definitely touched by this experience and so were my children, my husband, and father-in-law.  We unanimously agreed that we want to do this again.  And my children want to bring their friends next time.  So do I!

I am so grateful to my friend Dawn for inviting us to become a part of this valuable experience.

I strongly urge you to try this with your family and friends.  It is not only a fun, family-bonding and/or friend-bonding moment, but it feels so rewarding to know that we are making a difference in someone's life.

I also ask that you please share this post with others. 

Feed My Starving Children does not advertise, so they depend on volunteers to tell family and friends about their organization.

It is such an important work that they do, feeding children and giving them a chance in Life; let's all help!

Life is short; let's do all we can to help others!