Non-profit Feed My Starving Children (FMSC)

FMSC is requesting funding for its feeding program. FMSC’s feeding program is unique in that 100% volunteer labor is used to package scientifically-formulated meals, which are then shipped to approximately 200 distribution partners in 70 developing countries around the world. FMSC’s meals provide all the nutrients needed for hungry children to live, thrive and develop to their full potential.

Currently, FMSC’s meal-packing program is experiencing rapid growth. In 1994, 2,049 volunteers packed 400,000 meals. There were two employees and four international partner organizations. In 2012, FMSC packed a total of 163,000,000 meals, feeding over 446,000 malnourished children one meal a day for the entire year, with the help of 662,062 volunteers.

FMSC was founded in 1987 after a Minnesota businessman, Richard Proudfit, was challenged by the poverty that he witnessed on a mission trip to Honduras. Initially, Proudfit sent surplus food from the United States to developing countries around the world. However, it soon became clear that the food being sent was not meeting the nutritional needs of malnourished children with severely compromised digestive systems. As a response, he enlisted food scientists to design a meal that is ideally suited for the needs of the world’s starving children. After extensive research and trial tests, the team developed a meal formula that met all the identified criteria: ample protein and micronutrients, long shelf-life, culturally acceptable around the world and inexpensively produced. Originally called “Fortified Soy-Rice Casserole,” FMSC renamed the meal to “MannaPack Rice.” It is comprised of rice, soy, dried vegetables and 20 essential vitamins and minerals. MannaPack Rice contains all the necessary nutrients that malnourished children need to live and thrive.

In 2006, FMSC posed a question to world-renowned HIV nutrition specialist Cade Fields-Gardner: “Is FMSC food suitable to help in the worldwide AIDS pandemic?” Her answer (“Yes!”) came with the explanation that diarrhea is one of the quickest and most devastating killers of malnourished children in the developing world. Without adequate nutritional reserves, children can die within hours as fluids are lost due to diarrhea caused by HIV/AIDS, cholera and other diseases. Fields-Gardner suggested a potato-based formula with a high but gentle starch content to stabilize digestive systems. With her assistance, FMSC developed MannaPack Potato-D, the relief world’s first and only food to stabilize the symptoms of diarrhea. Partner organizations began using to FMSC’s Potato-D formula not only to stabilize diarrhea, but also to feed infants and toddlers who were not yet able to digest MannaPack Rice. In 2010, FMSC sought out Fields-Gardner’s advice once again and created a second potato formula—MannaPack Potato-W—that meets the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations for weaning infants 7-12 months old. Along with MannaPack Rice, FMSC’s two potato formulas are distributed at hospitals, clinics, orphanages and schools around the developing world.

All of FMSC’s meals are hand-packed by volunteers around the United States and are shipped to over 200 partner organizations that are working among the world’s poorest children. FMSC donates its food free of cost to selected partner organizations that distribute meals at hospitals/clinics, orphanages, churches and schools. These partnerships allow FMSC to focus its resources on producing food as efficiently as possible, while also allowing distribution partners to focus resources on other development efforts, knowing that the people they serve will receive the nutrients needed to live and thrive. FMSC’s food provides a stable foundation for all other work that distribution partners do.

FMSC’s mission is to “feed God’s starving children hungry in body and spirit.” The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 870 million people in the world are not receiving enough food to thrive, meaning that almost one in every eight people lack the basic food intake to provide them with the energy and nutrients needed to live fully productive lives (“State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012,” FAO). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly 60% of child deaths around the globe are either directly or indirectly related to malnutrition. For children under the age of five, at least one-third of the 6.9 million deaths per year are caused by malnutrition. Over two million children under the age of five die every year, and 6,200 die every day, because they do not have adequate level of nutritious food intake (“Levels and Trends in Child Mortality 2012,” UNICEF).

Malnutrition is not only the greatest contributing factor in child deaths around the world, it is also one of the greatest hindrances to progress in developing regions. As Noeleen Heyzer of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific said, “Sustainable development and inclusive growth will not happen on empty stomachs.” When children lack the basic vitamins and minerals needed to grow and develop, their communities suffer enormous lost potential. Micro-nutrient deficiencies strain health-care systems, undermine efforts to advance education and cripple economies.

FMSC is striving to eliminate starvation and malnutrition among the world’s children, and this cannot be done without generous financial support. FMSC is committed to the highest standards of financial responsibility--92% of total contributions go directly into FMSC’s feeding program, and FMSC can produce one meal for only $0.22.

Name of Organization:Feed My Starving Children (FMSC)
Number of Paid Staff:97 Full-time, 108 Part-time
Number of Volunteers:800,000
Total Organizational Expenses:$21,988,300
% of Organizational Overhead Expenses:7%

There are at least five things that make FMSC unique. First of all, FMSC is a faith-based organization that seeks to feed people’s spirits, along with their bodies. FMSC is inclusive in that people from all religious backgrounds are invited to join together in feeding the hungry, and children from all religious backgrounds receive FMSC’s meals. Second, FMSC depends on 100% volunteer labor. The same meals that people around the United States package go to feed some of the world’s hungriest children. Thus, FMSC gives people the invaluable experience of turning hunger into hope with their own two hands.

Third, FMSC’s three meal formulas are specially formulated to meet the nutritional needs of malnourished children. When used together, the meals not only provide all the nutrients a child needs to live and grow, but they can also help stabilize the effects of disease in the developing world, so that children can receive proper treatment. Fourth, FMSC partners with a unique group of international organizations that are working in some of the most difficult regions of the world. FMSC employs a rigorous selection process for its partners, ensuring that meals are shipped only to the organizations that are doing excellent work in the developing world. In FMSC’s 25+ year history, 99.6% of the meals shipped have reached their intended targets—an incredibly high success rate given the regions that receive FMSC’s meals.

Lastly, FMSC has experienced unique growth and recognition. Since 2004, FMSC has grown at an annual rate of 62%, making it one of the fastest growing charities in the United States. Throughout the past eight years, FMSC has earned Charity Navigator’s four-star rating, putting it among the top 2% of all charities ranked.

At three years old and just 14 pounds, Marilyn was very sick with tuberculosis, and in the last stages of starvation. She was brought to a medical clinic, where she stayed for four days but was unable to access resources needed to help her. Her conditioned worsened until partners Andrea and Mike Brewer of ReachHaiti brought her to the city, where she was treated for tuberculosis and severe malnutrition. After 7 months of eating MannaPack Rice ™ meals twice a day, Marilyn was restored to normal development. Today, she is a healthy 33 pounds. “She is the spunkiest little girl in our family!” laughs Pastor Michael and Andrea Brewer of ReachHaiti orphanage. She continues to eat FMSC meals and is thriving (see photo below, which is also included as an attachment).

Children
Disaster Relief and Recovery
Health
Hunger & Nutrition
Poverty
Special Needs

FMSC’s feeding program depends entirely on volunteer support. Every single FMSC meal that goes to feed malnourished is first hand-packed by volunteers. Youth can register on FMSC’s website (www.fmsc.org) to volunteer as individuals or in groups at either one of FMSC’s seven permanent packing facilities (in the Minneapolis, Chicago or Phoenix areas) or at one of the 200 MobilePacks taking place around the country each year. In a typical two hour shift, a volunteer can package one full box of food, containing 216 meals—enough to feed a child for over seven months.

Name:
Title:
Address:401 93rd Ave NW, Coon Rapids, MN. 55433
Telephone:(763) 504-2919
Email:info@fmsc.org
Website:www.fmsc.org

Federation Annual Campaign	Because they contain: Health Hunger & Nutrition Poverty Special Needs
Hope Lifts	Because they contain: Children Hunger & Nutrition Poverty Special Needs
Children's Initiative - Helping the Poorest Jewish Children in Uzbekistan	Because they contain: Children Health Hunger & Nutrition Poverty
Homeless Gear	Because they contain: Children Health Hunger & Nutrition Poverty

Jchoice.Org

Feeding Program


To add this cause to your favorites, you need to be signed in. If you do not have an account, create one now.