After every meal packaging event, my 10-year-old son asks me, “How many meals did you package today, Dad?”
I joined Stop Hunger Now as the Dallas-Fort Worth program manager in 2014. By the end of this year, I will have taken part in facilitating more than 300 events and packaging more than 7 million meals. I don’t tell you that so you’ll be impressed by the accomplishments of our team here in Dallas-Fort Worth. I tell you that so you will see the significant impact of the volunteers we work with every week.
At the beginning of each event, we spend a few minutes educating volunteers about the issue of world hunger. As I outline the disheartening statistics of hunger around the world, heads shake, mouths turn down and eyes drop. But then, as I move on to explain the impact of their participation in the event that day, heads raise, shoulders go back and a sense of determination begins to replace that doubt.
I don’t get to see the faces of those who receive Stop Hunger Now meals from our partner programs around the world. We get weekly reports and stories that show me how the meals we package here change the lives of people thousands of miles away.
But I do get to see the faces of the volunteers who package those meals. I do get to talk to those volunteers as they recognize the part they can plan in rising to end world hunger. I do get to meet people who may have never considered how simple it is to have a life-changing impact on a person they’ll probably never meet.
It’s so easy for you and your community of faith, company, school or service organization to have that same experience by partnering with Stop Hunger Now to end world hunger. If you haven’t hosted a meal packaging event yet, I hope you will find a Stop Hunger Now location near you and schedule a meal packaging event soon.
Then you’ll get to go home and tell someone you love, “I packaged more than 10,000 meals for hungry people today!” Take it from me, nothing feels better than that!
With the support of countless volunteers and supporters around the globe, Stop Hunger Now is rising to end hunger. When we work together, we rise together. Share your story of how you’re rising to the challenge of ending world hunger by using the hashtag #HowWeRise.