Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said,
“Why should there be hunger and deprivation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and the scientific know- how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life? There is no deficit in human resources. The deficit is in human will.”
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1996 and became an annually recognized day of service in 1994. In January of 2020, FPC gathered on MLK day to package 10,000 meals for Rise Against Hunger. Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief organization that distributes food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable, mobilizing the necessary resources to end hunger by 2030.
Since we could not gather in person this year, Rise Against Hunger sponsored a virtual event called Gather for Good. On Monday, January 18th, 2021, members from faith communities, schools, and corporations gathered to participate in an online Kahoot! trivia game to learn more about world hunger. Several FPC church members participated.
Rise Against Hunger provided educational information on their mission, the expanding need for mitigating hunger due to the pandemic and economic crisis, and hosted a fun trivia game to engage the members of the community that would typically gather for meal packaging and service. The event was free of charge for participants, but the organization accepted donations to help purchase medical supplies for a partner hospital in Haiti. In one hour, they were able to raise approximately $3,000.
We also learned some important facts about food insecurity and Rise Against Hunger.
Did you know?
- 820 million people worldwide are food insecure
- 60% of those facing hunger are women and girls
- On average, 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted annually around the world
- The average daily income in a developing country is $5/day
- On average, students in developing countries, walk 6 miles a day to and from school
- Rise Against Hunger served 1,792,000 beneficiaries in 2019
- To date, Rise Against Hunger volunteers have packaged 542 million meals
- 285,000 Rise Against Hunger packaged meals fit in a 40-foot shipping container
- On MLK Day 2020, throughout the city, 1,795 volunteers packaged 293,328 meals for Raleigh Rise Against Hunger
We hope to host another Rise Against Hunger meal packing event later in 2021 when it becomes safe once again to gather together. In the meantime check out these great videos about Rise Against Hunger, from some of our neighbor organizations.