June Charity of the Month: Feed My Starving Children

Charity of the Month is the way Team Tizzel is helping to support some very worthy organizations. As part of this program, we dedicate a post to a charity that we will sponsor through the month by donating Holly's training run money.

May: We sponsored the Northern Illinois Chapter of the Red Cross to help give aid to those affected by a tornado that went through our area on April 9th. We will be donating $125 plus a matching gift to The Red Cross through their online link at Donate to the Red Cross.

June's Charity:

Feed My Starving Children

http://fmsc.org

Dave's employer, Kraft Foods, sponsors a day of giving back to the community for its employees called "Kraft Cares Day". A variety of projects were organized across the United States and Canada. Dave chose to join over 60 of his coworkers in a volunteer session at Feed My Starving Children in a nearby town. He assumed it would be a typical food shelter pack and box operation, but was quite surprised after he went through orientation.

Feed My Starving Children "manufactures" packaged food that is sent to feed children across the world. The food is specially formulated to meet the specific dietary needs of children in developing markets. We grouped into teams of six and moved into the packing area.  Here's how the tasks were divided:

• Two people bagging: they opened the bags, placed under the funnel, and adjusted the pack contents to meet weight requirements.
• Two people scooping: that day we made MannaPack Rice which is a combination of rice, soy nuggets, dried vegetables, and vitamin powder.  Scoopers poured the ingredients into the funnel.
• One person sealing: they sealed the bags.
• One person packing: they stacked and packed the cartons.

The energy in the room was high with many people hard at work on their lines, hit music playing, and lots of cheering from our fellow volunteers - a fifth grade class. Workers would come around and replenish supplies and pick up packed cases. When the pack session was over we cleaned and setup the stations for the next round. At the end of the ninety minutes we had packed 134 boxes which will feed 80 children for a year.

All of the materials and raw ingredients are purchased by the organization and the labor to assemble and ship is volunteer work. The organization fund raises in many ways, including hosting a global marketplace with crafts and foods from the communities served. They have a 4-star Navigator rating so you can trust your donation will go straight to helping others.

This was a really moving experience and Dave has suggested gathering a group of friends to share in this experience.

Click this link to go to FMSC's donation page.