“For nothing will be impossible with God.” — Luke 1:37

The statistics can be overwhelming. Rising poverty rates, ongoing conflict, new health crises. We live in a broken world, but we’re called to care. Do you ever feel like you don’t even know where to begin?

At FMSC, we do one thing: We feed kids. And when you pack or give to fund meals, you do that one thing too.

But here’s the important part: It’s not just one thing.

Hope begins with food

Food is the foundation for so much more. When a child is facing severe hunger, education feels out of reach. And when a family doesn’t have food, dreams for the future are a luxury they can’t afford.

But full stomachs equip kids to study hard. Reliable meals give families stability to look toward the future. Dependable food sources allow our partners to devote their resources to education, health care, agriculture and micro-business. Our goal is to create local food security so future generations can thrive. And it starts with food.

When you fund meals, it may feel like you’re just doing one thing. But because of that one thing, these kids can do anything.

Meet Babyson.

Babyson is 11 years old. He’s a soft-spoken fifth grader with growing confidence and big plans. He loves basketball and, when he grows up, he wants to be a nurse. But just a year ago, Babyson’s life looked very different. He was hungry. And for kids facing relentless hunger, big dreams stop before they can start.

Babyson lives in Haiti, one of the most food-insecure countries in the world. His story changed when he began attending a school run by one of our partners, L’Ecole de Choix. They shared the following:

Babyson and his mother are our neighbors, living just a very short distance down a small road from our campus gates. He shares his family home with his mother, two brothers and one big sister. …

For the first time, month over month, Babyson is maintaining his weight and even has gained six pounds from September to May 2021. That hardly seems like reason to celebrate considering his age, but it is so important for us to see Babyson grow, and we have seen such improvements in his overall health and energy level, as well. …

The World Food Programme reports that Haiti has one of the highest levels of food insecurity in the world, with nearly half the population living in conditions of hunger or severe hunger. We do not see our students until they already have reached the age of five or six years so they have struggled for years before we are able to provide the resources to which we have access because of FMSC.

… Without the nutritional support on which Babyson has come to depend from Choix and FMSC, the food insecurity that continues to plague Haiti in even greater percentages recently (due to widespread insecurity and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic) would certainly be affecting Babyson in deep, irreversible ways.

Babyson still remembers vomiting many months ago once after eating, an effect of malnutrition that our registered nurse sometimes sees among our students. Choix has staff members in place to supervise him directly. They keep a keen eye on him, as well as a group of other students whom we constantly must ensure are eating their complete meals. At times, malnutrition can make eating uncomfortable; and while some students appreciate the food we provide, they are only comfortable ingesting very small portions and oftentimes have no appetite at all. Yet, missing even one meal could set back any marked process and have a lasting, negative effect on their young bodies. Encouraging our students through positive reinforcement to take control and have a responsibility in protecting their health is a way in which we not only can educate them, but also we can empower them through their choices. …

As Babyson continues through his primary education, history has become his favorite subject. [He said,] “The history I read about Haiti is more beautiful than the one I see today. I want to believe that things can be like in my history book and Haiti can be strong and proud.”

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We can all do one thing. This World Food Day, will you join us? When you fund meals, you’re helping kids like Babyson build bright futures that are open to anything.

World Food Day is celebrated every year on October 16 in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1945. Read how FMSC supports UN Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger.