Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children was founded as a Christian nonprofit in 1987 through the efforts of a Minnesota businessman who felt called by God to help feed the starving children of the world during a humanitarian visit to Honduras. He returned to the Twin Cities to develop a method of large-scale relief.

His efforts, energy and resources resulted in the development of a food mixture that would be easy and safe to transport, simple to make with only boiling water, and culturally acceptable worldwide. This basic formula of rice, high protein soy nuggets, vegetables, vitamins and flavoring is still used by FMSC today.

In addition to this formula, FMSC needed to develop a cost-effective means of producing the completed meals in quantities that would make a real difference in alleviating world hunger. Initially, FMSC tested the possibility of using packaging machines, but this solution proved to be expensive and cumbersome. In 1993, a church group stopped by the FMSC facility to see if there might be an opportunity to volunteer with FMSC. That providential meeting gave birth to FMSC’s volunteer packing approach.

To distribute the packed meals, the FMSC team began establishing partnerships with major global distribution nonprofits such as Operation Blessing, Salesian Missions and UMCOR. These partnerships allow FMSC to reach desperately needy children in remote parts of the world by leveraging the in-country expertise of these organizations. Through these vital partnerships, orphanages and facilities for handicapped children can provide hot, nutritious meals—and a ray of hope for the future.

Since its inception, FMSC’s model of culturally acceptable, nutritious food, combined with volunteer production and distribution through on-the-ground partners has grown exponentially. In 1994, 2,400 volunteers packed 400,000 meals from FMSC’s original Brooklyn Park location. In 2005, nearly 75,000 volunteers packed more than 15 million meals at sites in Brooklyn Park, Eagan and a third mobile packing site that travels to youth conventions and churches. In March 2006, a third permanent site opened in Chanhassen, Minnesota, with plans to open an additional five sites by 2008.

Feed My Starving Children offers hope to the hungry in body around the world, and the hungry in spirit right here at home. In 2005, more than 75,000 volunteers—the majority under the age of 18—manually assembled 15 million meals for hungry children, helping to heal the world of the hurt of hunger.

Please call 763-504-2919 to schedule time at the Brooklyn Park Facility.


references: www.fmsc.org