“It’s stories like [these] that remind me every single day why we do this work, why FMSC exists. It’s to turn the ache a mother feels when she can’t feed her hungry children into HOPE. This is our goal for all mothers.” – Mark Crea, Executive Director and CEO

Aracely

It may sound obvious to say, but sometimes we need the reminder: people are the same everywhere. Moms in El Salvador are just like moms in the United States. 

It’s easy to forget that sometimes when we focus on circumstance. Because our circumstances can be very different, but that doesn’t mean that we are.

Aracely and her 4-year-old daughter share a small house with Aracely’s parents and husband. She describes it as having iron sheet walls and a soil floor. She tells us that the home doesn’t have electricity and they have to walk to nearby well for water.

Read Aracely’s story HERE.

Margaret

Three weeks ago, I was sitting at my desk at the Feed My Starving Children headquarters, sipping on my Starbucks coffee, reading through a report one of our overseas partners sent when I got to this part about three quarters of the way through. It stopped me in my tracks.

Margaret has been struggling to take care of these children all alone; sometimes they only eat a meal a day or nothing at all. Life is so unbearable; a day before a worse decision was the same day our team chanced on her. She had decided to pawn her two sons age 10 and 8 to a fisherman in a small fishing town where underage children are sold as slaves to undertake fishing activities.

So three weeks have passed and I don’t know how to bring you this story – Margaret’s story. The story of a 48-year-old single mother of four in Ghana who struggles to feed her children because her partner spent all he had on the expenses of a complicated pregnancy, lost his source of income and left his family. The story of a mom 24 hours away from pawning two of her children into slavery in order to feed them.

Read Margaret’s story HERE.

Kenia

Kenia has been part of Club Pregnant since she was 2 months pregnant. Now that Kendra is 2, she will transition to ORPHANetwork’s feeding program through the local church the family belongs to.

With one hand on Fernando’s head and another holding Kendra, Kenia explains how she has benefited from Club Pregnant.

“I learned about the feeding of the kids, how to prepare food for her on time for anything she needs,” Kenia said. “Us women have been helped a lot because no one had told us.”

Read Kenia’s story HERE.

Mdm Fifin

Mdm Fifin is working towards starting a small business at the end of the year.

The mom of 10 plans to sell rice, beans and oil outside of her home on a main walkway out of her village in Haiti.

Her children range in age from 7 months to 21 years. Before Elevate started working with Mdm Fifin, only five of her school aged children had attended school. Their first goal was to get the children in school.

Then, they wanted to make sure that the family had enough food to survive. MannaPack meals help supplement Mdm Fifin and her children until she is able to make enough profit with her business to support her family.

The final step is providing Mdm Fifin with a small microloan and business training.

Read Mdm Fifin’s story HERE.

Khalia

Khalia’s husband, father and brothers were kidnapped and executed by ISIS in the same day.

“Suddenly, I have become all alone,” she said. “There is no one to help with the three kids, and everything in me is exhausted because of the deep sorrow.”

This widowed mother of three is one of about 250,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq.

Feed My Starving Children’s partner, World Help, is reaching these precious people in many ways – including providing FMSC meals that YOU pack.

Read Khalia’s story HERE.

Thank you for what you do to stand with these moms every single day.