Recently, I saw an ad for a meal delivery service that delivers pre-portioned meals to your front door every week. Interest piqued and curious, I read some reviews and was astonished at the price tag. Only in a first-world, consumerist society would people pay $9.99 per meal for something they could have gone to the store and cooked themselves for much less. Trust me, after reading the best testimonials, I understand the convenience and appeal of this service, but it makes part of me cringe.
This led me to think about those Compassion International commercials that I used to see all the time on TV, which featured heartbreaking images of children struggling to survive in third-world countries. For just $38/month, you can sign up to sponsor a child, providing them with food, medical checkups, mentoring, and more. The disparity here is staggering to me… pay $60 a week for 3 dinners or $38 a month to pay for all of a child’s nutritional needs and medical expenses. I’m by no means saying it’s sinful to purchase subscription meal deliveries, but at the very least the comparison gives pause to stop and reflect on how we steward the resources we’ve been blessed with.
In addition to the millions of children around the world who go to bed hungry every night, there are millions in our own country who go without the proper nutrition. Feeding America indicates that nearly 15.5 million U.S. children under the age of 18 live in poverty; that’s one in five children who come from food-insecure families that have to worry about where they’ll get their next meal. There are many ways that you can get involved in meeting the fundamental physical needs of underprivileged children both here and abroad by giving of both your time and finances. If this is an area of service to which you are called to give, here are some ideas of organizations for you to connect with:
Feeding America
Feeding America works with over 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries across the U.S. to deliver meals to locals in need. While Feeding America helps underprivileged people of all ages, they have several programs that focus specifically on meeting the needs of youths, including their BackPack Program, Kids Café, School Pantry, and Summer Food Service Programs. While financial donations go a long way ($1 provides as many as 11 meals!), they are always happy to have volunteers to sort and pack food at local food banks. Click here to read more about service opportunities!
Feed the Children
Feed the Children is a non-profit organization espousing Christian values, that helps provide 263,000 meals a day to impoverished and malnourished children in the U.S. and abroad. While you can choose to help financially by donating or sponsoring a child, you can also spend your time volunteering, praying, or advocating.
Help the Children
Help the Children is a Christian humanitarian organization that has been helping children and their families combat poverty through a number of programs including food distribution and medical/dental care outreach for more than 13 years. By helping children and their families cover the basics, Help the Children hopes to ultimately help its clients get out of the cycle of poverty. Financial support is accepted, but volunteering is equally appreciated. You can help distribute food, pack food boxes, or organize the food warehouse, or if you are a trained and licensed medical professional, you can participate in one of many medical mission opportunities.
These organizations just scratch the surface of ways that you can make a difference in the lives of children with the time and money with which you have been blessed, always heeding Jesus’ call in Matthew 18:10. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”