KA Has Heart Team Supports Feed My Starving Children

KA Has Heart Team Supports Feed My Starving Children

by Brenden Nickels
Brenden Nickels is a blogger and Senior Office Assistant at Kraus-Anderson’s Twin Cities headquarters.

Beginning this month, Kraus-Anderson will spotlight different charities that our employees volunteer with as part of the company’s KA Has Heart program. This month, we are focusing on Feed My Starving Children, (FMSC), a Christian charity that packages healthy meals and sends them to children across the world who may need them.  FMSC’s mission is, “Feeding God’s starving children hungry in body and in spirit.”

A Friendly Competition

“Everyone can do it.” said KA Project Manager Josh Carr. “Our group makes it competitive. We wanted to pack the most! We were encouraging each other and cheering each other on as we pack food for people who really need it.”

“The time we spent preparing the meals went by really fast.” said KA Superintendent Rob Puncochar. “They played very upbeat music that helped us get in a rhythm so we could work faster. When we were done, I was tired, but I would certainly do it again.”

Background on FMSC

FMSC began in 1987 by businessman Richard Proudfit (who also founded another nonprofit charity battling worldwide hunger, Kids Against Hunger). Proudfit, who died in 2018, was inspired to form the charity after taking a mission trip to Honduras, and hearing God say to him, “If you see my starving children, go and feed them.” This led to Proudfit joining forces with food scientists from local companies like Cargill, General Mills, and Pillsbury to make a rice-based formula that had all of the essential nutrients that one needed. FMSC would later start making potato-based formulas as well to help treat illness and to feed babies weaning off mother’s milk.

FMSC Twin Cities Area Locations

Volunteers pack the meal packs at one of FMSC’s permanent site locations. There are three locations in the Twin Cities area: in Chanhassen, Coon Rapids, and Eagan. These sites pack meals up to 6 days a week, and sometimes have up to 6 sessions per day.

FMSC MobilePack Events

FMSC also hosts MobilePack events, where you can volunteer to pack meals at other sites around the area. You can volunteer individually, with friends, with family, on your birthday, and FMSC can handle almost any size of group, large or small.  Volunteers also help in paying for the food. It only costs 24 cents per day and $88 per year to feed a hungry child, and over 90% of FMSC’s donations go back to the feeding program.

“It made me feel great.” Puncochar added. “I felt a real sense of accomplishment after they told us we produced 40,176 meals in about 2 hours.”

Paused for Pandemic

Unfortunately, at this writing the organization’s meal packing efforts have been put on indefinite hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We miss our volunteers so much!” said Pat van der Lugt, Director of Marketing & Communications.  “In the meantime, we have been praying and searching for alternative ways to pack meals until our volunteers can join us again.  We will continue to answer God’s call to feed His kids.  We are so grateful for the support from Kraus Anderson over the years. We can’t do it without you!  We are praying for all our volunteers and supporters.”

Until those volunteers can return, there are still some ways to support FMSC, says van der Lugt.

How You Can Help

“We are asking supporters 3 things:  1. Pray.  2. Give at give.fmsc.org/covid-19 or text FEED to 77977 3. Shop fmsc.org/marketplace to continue to support artisans and fund meals.”

If you would like more information, you can visit FMSC at www.fmsc.org.