There are 1.02 billion hungry people in our world today, nearly half are children. To put some perspective on this number, the tragic tsunami of 2004 that swept suddenly across the Indian Ocean destroyed more than 225,000 lives and wrecked the livelihoods of countless millions.
Similarly, the “hunger tsunami” sweeps across the earth every week, killing more than 210,000 people. Every day 25,000 to 30,000 people die of starvation. As Richard Harris reported on National Public Radio, a child dies every fifteen seconds due to malnutrition, a situation equivalent to twenty jumbo jets filled with children crashing every day.
Experts on the subject of hunger agree there is enough food, enough food-processing potential, and enough distribution know-how to end hunger in the world. What is needed is the political will and attention to devote the energy and resources to this important task. Stop Hunger Now is committed to hosting programs that will efficiently end hunger in our lifetime.
The United Nations developed eight Millennium Development goals in the year 2000. These goals are intended to address global issues and end the main threats to human welfare to improve the quality of life for everyone in this world.
The eight MILLENNIUM development goals are:
1. to ERADICATE extreme POVERTY and hunger
2. to achieve UNIVERSAL primary education
3. promote gender equality and empower women
4. to reduce child mortality
5. to improve maternal health
6. to combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases
7. to ensure environmental stability
8. to develop a global partnership for development
It’s important to note that the first Millennium development goal is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Specifically … to cut hunger in half by the year 2015 by establishing school lunch feeding programs.
According to the World Food Program and Unicef, this first target is critical to all other goals. In fact, it would be nearly impossible to meet the other Millennium Development goals without addressing hunger first. Stopping hunger now, as evidenced by the millennium development goals is simply the foundation on which progress can be built. In order to succeed, in order to accomplish the big tasks, in order to reduce poverty, educate, empower women, prevent disease, prolong lives, we much end world hunger.
Why is Operation Sharehouse so successful? As mentioned above, the United Nations has stated that by establishing school lunch feeding programs around the world, hunger can be cut in half by 2015. Stop Hunger Now’s Operation Sharehouse program provides these much need meals to not only crisis relief efforts but to support sustainable programs likes school lunch feeding programs, and is a fun, hands-on volunteer opportunity for caring people of all ages in churches, civic organizations, and businesses. Through the Operation Sharehouse program, our greatest dream is being realized—thousands of volunteers are learning the value of addressing hunger and are joining Stop Hunger Now in creating a world without hunger. They are taking action by volunteering to package meals and helping spread the word.
The program is sustained through volunteer contributions and sponsorships amounting to 25 cents per meal, which pays for the cost of raw ingredients, packaging, and operational costs. Once the start-up costs are raised and food-packaging levels reach at least 1.1 million meals per year, the program is financially self-sustaining.
Due to the valuable experience Stop Hunger Now’s Operation Sharehouse program provides volunteers, we are experiencing huge demand to establish new locations in at least four states including North Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi, Arizona and South Africa. The demand in these states comes from organizations such as churches, civic organizations, community leaders and universities. Stop Hunger Now’s vision moving into 2010 is to meet the demand we see not only from those suffering from hunger, but also from the compassionate volunteers that want to help them.