By Jessica Lynn Miller, Staff Writer
Feeding Children Everywhere (FCE) is a charity organization that helps to bring the most basic needs to people throughout the world – food. FCE wants Saint Leo University (SLU) to extend an invitation to anyone who would like to help in this noble mission. “It started with four people sitting at a table with their laptops,” said Kile Riggs, Event Coordinator and a starting member of FCE.
Since then, FCE has expanded vastly among the list of charities that search for aid to those in need. The organization makes a unique mark by offering nutritious meals, getting communities active and involved, and having volunteers pack the food themselves. The meals consist of lentils, rice, pink Himalayan salt, and dehydrated vegetables including bell peppers, onions, carrots, and celery. The meal is simple to put together, but it provides a plethora of health benefits: protein, amino acids, iron, calcium, zinc, carbohydrates, folic acid, magnesium, and Vitamins A, B6, C, D, and E. All that is needed to cook the meal is boiling water.
It would seem that to bring all this together plus shipping would be costly, but truthfully 25 cents is enough to give someone one meal. Imagine! When was the last time one can remember eating a healthy, filling meal for just a quarter? One can feed their average family of four for one dollar!
These meals are shipped in giant semi-truck size metal containers to villages and towns in many different countries. The metal containers are then given to that village or town to use for housing or whatever suits the needs of the community.
“One of the tribes we donated to use the metal container as a library,” said Riggs.
The meals are also shipped to local communities such as Largo in Florida. A person can donate time and volunteer at one of the many packing events FCE hosts every year. The organization provides tables, funnels, food, shower caps, and plastic gloves. All that they need are a location and volunteers. The meal packing events consist of gathering volunteers into groups, forming lines at tables, and having those groups work together in a “factory line” to distribute, mix, and pack the meals together to help fill a shipping container bound to hungry families. Thousands of meals are packed within hours, and then the meals are put directly on the roads to their destination.
So how may someone become a volunteer? There are multiple ways for one to volunteer: start a new meal packing event in their community or join one of the many events already registered. However, SLU is offering its own meal packing event on campus on Martin Luther King Jr. Day during this up-coming spring in 2013! Community Service Day is a time to bring the community together. What better way to do so then by helping to fill bellies and to put smiles on the faces of hungry communities? Put it on the calendar and do not forget to come out.
For those that cannot wait and would like to get involved or donate today, please visit their website at feedingchildreneverwhere.com. Through the website, one can even order their very own FCE meal to try!
