The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization recently estimated that there are now 963 million hungry people worldwide. This number has increased by 40 million this year and is predicted to continue rising as the current global economic crisis plunges more people into poverty and hunger.
While such large numbers may make the problem of world hunger seem overwhelming, every effort to alleviate the suffering of those who are undernourished makes a difference.
Photo by Alice Rusher
Messengers at the BGAV annual meeting package dehydrated meals.
In 2008, Virginia Baptists have been helping to feed the hungry through various ministries.
Stop Hunger Now
During the Baptist General Association of Virginia annual meeting in November, Virginia Baptist volunteers at the Ministry Fair packaged 10,000 dehydrated meals for Stop Hunger Now, a nongovernmental organization that provides direct food relief around the world.
These dehydrated, fortified rice-soy meals contain over 20 vitamins and minerals especially formulated for the undernourished. As part of its Operation Sharehouse program, Stop Hunger Now has developed a simple and efficient process for packaging the food. Volunteers pour ingredients into a large funnel to fill plastic bags, which are then weighed, vacuum-sealed, and boxed for shipment.
Each bag contains six servings or “meals.” So the 1,667 bags that were filled at the BGAV annual meeting will feed 10,000 undernourished people.
According to Troy Henson, Stop Hunger Now Operation Sharehouse Coordinator in Lynchburg, these 10,000 meals were included in a shipment that was sent to Nairobi, Kenya, on Dec. 3 for distribution by an organization called Revival for World Crusades.
In information provided to Stop Hunger Now, Revival for World Crusades indicated that “the cargo will be stored at a secure facility at Soweto Academy in Kibera (a slum neighborhood in Nairobi). Food supplies will be used for the daily nutritional program at the three schools operated in Kibera, as well as in conjunction with a medical outreach to the infirm and elderly.”
The recent shipment to Kenya also included 10,000 meals packaged by Spring Hill Baptist Church in Ruckersville and another 10,000 packaged by Virginia Baptist Mission Board staff members.
In the future, it may be possible for meals packaged by Virginia Baptists to be sent directly to Virginia Baptist partners. “The VBMB is in conversation with Stop Hunger Now about the possibility of working together to distribute meals through our ministry partners,” said Dean Miller, missions learning coordinator for the VBMB's glocal missions and evangelism team.
Churches that would like to organize a meal-packaging project should contact Stop Hunger Now at info@stophungernow. org or (888) 501-8440 (toll free).
World Hunger Offering
Virginia Baptists also help feed the hungry through gifts to the Virginia Baptist World Hunger Offering. As of Dec. 12, $266,361 had been received for this year.
Donations to the World Hunger Offering have been declining steadily over the last five years. “The total that we anticipate receiving this year is 30 percent to 40 percent less than what the VBMB received in 2004,” observed Miller. “At the same time, the need continues to increase.”
Individuals or churches who would like to contribute to the World Hunger Offering can send a check to Virginia Baptist Mission Board, 2828 Emerywood Parkway, Richmond, VA 23294 (made out to “VBMB” with “World Hunger Offering” on the memo line).
Of the World Hunger Offering funds received by the VBMB, 50 percent is forwarded to the Southern Baptist Convention, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and Baptist World Alliance for their hunger relief ministries; the other 50 percent is distributed by the VBMB for Virginia Baptist hunger relief ministries in Virginia and through Virginia Baptist ministry partners.
Virginia Baptist churches can request World Hunger funds to support local hunger relief ministries such as food pantries and feeding programs. For more information, contact Dean Miller at (800) 255-2428, ext. 7264.