Kids Against Hunger - An International KI Program for Feeding Children

by Doris Montgomery, Potomac Region Trustee

When I attended the Kiwanis International Convention in June of this year, I visited the booth "Kids Against Hunger." I was so excited! I immediately thought this would be a great project for the Potomac Region, and other Regions can get involved, too.

Today, I am writing to you hoping you would agree to take on this wonderful project. Kids Against Hunger, continues to grow here in America and around the world. On February the 23rd, the Mankato (MN) Division Director, Tim Stromer, lead a group of 300 people from Fairmont, Minnesota, to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the poorest America Reservation in the United States, to delivery food packages (unemployment rate of 80% and 49% poverty rate.)

In 2008 over 120,000 volunteers of all ages came together at 43 Kids Against Hunger food packing centers, to package 40 million meals.

Because the need for food is increasing, so is our need to assist in this endeavor. In 2009 they are counting on many volunteers who realize that their service to assist will make a differnce. They have already set up 11 new locations in the first four months of 2009, and theya re confident that with the help of volunteers they will be able to reach there goal of making 60 million packages of food.

Kids Against Hunger's business model of creating packing "satellites" throughout the nation was created not only to increase the number of meals that could be produced, but also to provide the opportunity to make use of more volunteers to package these meals The hands-on experience of doing something that will literally save the life of a child has a very moving and profound effect on the volunteers, especially the youth. I believe that when people see the results of their efforts, they realize that they can truly make a difference in the world. So, let us all make this feed the "Kids Against Hunger" the biggest service project in our region.

For more information regarding "Kids Against Hunger" go to www.kidsagainsthunger.org . See for yourselves how important this project is. The food banks here in Maryland and Washington, DC will get there fair share before deliverying to other places in the United States. For any questions email me at mdoris@comcast.net.