Imagine growing up on an empty stomach, constantly thinking about when or if you will eat another meal. Everyday children form around the world go to bed hungry and in pain. They don't have a pantry, a refrigerator, or maybe even running water. Feed My Starving Children is a Christian non-profit organization helping malnourished children from 70 different countries receive meals. All of their food is scientifically proven to bring children back from the devastating effects of starvation and malnutrition. In one meal, a child will receive vitamins, vegetables, soy (protein), and rice (carbs).
Over the past few weeks I have been volunteering at the Feed My Starving Children site in Aurora, IL. There are many different tasks that one may chose from such as packaging the meals, boxing, labeling, etc, however each time I volunteered I was packaging the meals. On April 21st, in particular, I went with my friend from school, Morgan. This experience was especially unique because we ended up in a group with other students, which gave us a common link. Morgan and I switched off with the other students between scooping the ingredients, and sealing the bags. Although each session is two hours long, FMSC plays upbeat music that makes the time fly by. Its almost as if you are trying to keep up with the rhythm and pack faster and faster each time, increasing the amount of meals you end up with. There were a variety of people there from students, to a church group, to ordinary people wanting to contribute their service. The entire environment was cheerful, exciting, and created one goal: to save children.
When in the process, I couldn't help but to smile and laugh. The thought of knowing you are saving a child's life from starvation is amazing. The experience really made me think about how much I have living in Naperville, and how my problems are nothing compared to what children in Haiti or Brazil have to deal with. I have never had to worry about my next meal, water, shelter, clothing, etc, and these children worry about that every day while still keeping a smile on their faces and gaining joy from such simplistic things.
At the end of the session everyone cleans up their station, and has the opportunity to pray over the boxes they have packed. Although I did not attend the prayer with Morgan, I did attend the prayer my first time volunteering about a week earlier. There was a school girl that couldn't have been more than eight, who raised her hand to say the prayer, and what she said brought tears to my eyes. She asked God to keep the boxes safe while they traveled, bring health to the children receiving them, and thanks for the people who packed them. That was all routine, but what she said after was powerful. She asked God to help and watch over the children who are hungry, who are abused, who are in sickness, and who are without families. It came out so natural, and without hesitation. It was hard to hear, and a few other adults were also moved by it as I could see the tears in their eyes.
Overall, we packed over 100 boxes that day and gave 57 (if I remember correctly) children meals for an entire year. We were shown photos of a little boy before and after he started eating FMSC's "mana pack" meals, and the results were reassuring that I had done something great. In such a small amount of time I was able to help save lives of children around the world. After volunteering for FMSC several times now, it is something I will absolutely continue to do as it gives such a positive and rewarding feeling. I would recommend to anyone looking to help the community, or who has a few hours to kill, to volunteer at their local FMSC site. It is a simple online process, where you pick a day, sign up, and attend!
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