Feed My Starving Children

It’s hard to talk about a non profit-​organization, but this is my third time serving with them and it always been a true blessing, they are super organized and very transparent with everything they do, thanks to them many kids are not going to sleep without food, thanks guys

I went along with my children’s school today and it was the most awesome experience!!! Looking forward to going back with my family to volunteer for FMSC.

Originally I expected to go and feed a few kids and that was all, but to my surprise it turned out to be one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Alongside families of children as young as three years old, we worked together to feed 114 hungry kids in Swaziland with 41,904 meals, and packed a total of 194 boxes breaking a record of the most meals packed in one session. The group tables were set up in different countries that they serve giving the kids a lesson on geography as well as the giving back. The staff made our experience extremely enjoyably by engaging us in the value that we all added in the process. After we completed our session, the staff showed us before and after videos of children benefiting from the packs we made. It brought tears of joy to my eyes seeing them go from skin and bones to happy, healthy, and active kids. We prayed over the boxes before they shipped them, asking blessings and nourishment for the people it would impact. I’ve since committed to going back once a month to volunteer and would highly recommend everyone try it out at least once. :)

I love FMSC! I had so much fun! met great people, always makes me feel good, I
like that I did something good and productive with my free time.
Going back soon!

Such a caring compassionate group of people. I volunteered here yesterday. The volunteers are so energetic and happy and so compassionate about what they are doing. Can’t wait to go back!

Instead of gifts or cards this year, all I ask if you would be so gracious with your time and help make a difference in so many peoples lives that are not as fortunate as some. I am going to celebrate my birthday on the 11^th and volunteering starts at 8:00pm-9:00/9:30pm and then I figured we could all grab a drink or something at Westwood which is only a hop, skip and jump from the FMSC in Schaumburg. If you cannot attend I totally understand, but you still can donate via their website and purchase goods that equal a certain amount meals or even a flat donation of what ever you can spare. I hope to see as many choke clothing & choke fitness friends in attendance. One Love… «THE WAY YOU MEASURE SUCCESS IS BY HOW MANY YOU BLESS!» –D Darby

There are few glimpses into the hearts of superheros in this world. Feed My Starving Children is an organization that is not only the best kind of superhero, but they give everyday joes the opportunity to don a cape for a few hours as well. That’s right, citizen, even you can leap tall buildings in a single bound, stop a speeding bullet with your teeth, and change the lives of malnourished children around the globe. Ok, maybe not the first two, but you can definitely help end hunger with your bare hands, and that’s pretty cool.
The best part of FMSC is that 93% of the money that they raise goes directly into getting the food that is packed delivered safely to the kids that need it most. It costs 22 cent per meal to give a child a full belly and a shot a living. That’s not too shabby if you ask me. It’s 100% volunteer funded & those volunteers get a healthy dose of the warm fuzzies in exchange for a little time and a little cash out of their pockets.
If you’ve got a spare few hours, I would urge you to try your hand at packing food at Feed My Starving Children. Aside from being a feel-​good experience, you have the opportunity to directly save the lives of many children, and that’s pretty darn cool.

I like the mission of this non-​profit, and am totally impressed with the volume of food they are able to package in a short period of time. They have the food packing process down to a science, so it all moves along very efficiently. The experience was fun, and I was pleased they had a sit-​down job for me (I had a hysterectomy not long ago).
My only complaint was with activities prior to food packing, and one particular employee. When I walked into the warehouse, there were people everywhere. I had no idea where to go. There were no signs or anything. I asked an employee where I needed to go to check in. I was told abruptly, «Put on a hairnet, sign-​in on the computer, and go sit on the benches». I’m here to volunteer, I’m not in a work-​release program from prison. It’s not hard to be polite, and I was rather taken aback. There was mass congestion around the computer to check in, so I just went to sit down on the benches. There has to be an easier way to check people in, even if it’s just a checklist that an employee uses as people arrive, then update the computer after people start packing. At the end, there was a prayer over the food that was packed. I was having some pain, so I was sitting on the benches with a few other people. One young man (about 13ish in age) was whispering something to the girl sitting next to him, and the woman that was abrupt with me when I entered the building snapped at him to «be quiet!»…then turned around and started having a full conversation with another employee. It was so absolutely rude.
For the most part, this was an enjoyable experience and I hope everything we packed reaches the starving children safely. I have many charities that I already work with on a regular basis, but I would volunteer my time to FMSC again in the future.

I absolutely love FMSC. I love the people, I love the concept, I love to volunteer and I love to have fun while volunteering, is just a bonus!
My very first experience here was when one of my Unilocal pals, actually, invited me to join her here as this is where she would like to spend her birthday and our gift to her was us attending. I didn’t even hesitate for a second when I received that invitation.
I do want to mention that the location is difficult to find. It is at the Northwest corner of Remington and National Parkway. Entrance is on Remington and is one-​way NORTH. The entrance to FMSC is the second door of the building on your left if you are following the rules of the one-​way lot. The lot is a bit dark and I would suggest more lighting to the building management/​owners. Not for me in particular but for all the businesses in this area.
This is commercial location so the front area is small with a large warehouse space being the staging, packing and loading area.
Ladies, put your hair up before you go, everyone will be required to wear a hairnet and even a net over facial hair, gentlemen. First, they will show you a quick instructional video of how to pack the food properly. Everyone has a task and you work closely together around a table. They play great music that us 30-​somethings love. The teens all look at us like we’re crazy but it’s all in good fun as we sing along to songs from classic 90’s movies and lame TV shows whilst we pack food to feed those in need all across the world from the US to Asia.
Wear comfy shoes, bring your positive attitude, a friend, a little love and be ready to pack rice, soy, vitamins and dehydrated vegetables. They are a Christian organization but they do not shove this down your throat. After we are done packing and clean-​up, we are given the opportunity to pray over the packed boxes that are packed during our session. Pray the food makes it to it’s destination, pray for everyone handling it, pray for the children receiving the food.
We watch a video of the kids receiving the food, they show us how many meals we packed and essetially how many children will be fed for a year off the food we had just packed. It’s very, very cool to find out these details after a 90-​minute session.
I have returned a second time since my first visit and everything ran just as smoothly as my first visit. If I have one thing to say, it’s that no one is there to greet volunteers and tell them what to do or where to go. I wish someone was at the front door to welcome vonuteers and give instructions (ie. wearing a hair net, where to check in, where to go once checked in).
There is a little lobby where you can purchase items made by people living in different countries and the profits are used for food items and transporation of the meals to get to their destination or you can donate directly online or even with a credit card at the register. You will receive a receipt for your donation for tax purposes.
We have 2 or 3 more events scheduled to return with friends and I can’t wait!

It’s kinda hard to argue with feeding hungry children.
I mean, this might not be my first choice of charities to donate to, even when it comes to feeding the hungry, but it’s still a very good cause doing good work, and when a friend asks you to come do good work for her birthday … you say yes.
I was a tiny bit late, because it was a little hard to see from the street in the dark, so I’m gonna tell you now that it’s right at Remington and National and the entrance to the lot is on Remington. I might have missed something, but I did get right in and grabbed a hairnet and heard everything that mattered about the orientation.
Can I make one teeny complaint? When I showed up looking bewildered, no staff person was there to direct me or tell me anything — I just had to spot a familiar face and figure it out. That’s OK, though, I know if I had been a few minutes earlier I would’ve been in better shape.
And I got to be pretty expert at packing those boxes up, by the end. Our group was pretty efficient, I think, and we got quite a bit done in a little over an hour. It’s a good feeling to know that for an hour or so of work, we helped a heck of a lot of hungry children. It’s fun, it’s quick, it’s easy.
But one more caveat: wear super-​comfy shoes because constant repetitive motion for an hour or two is hard on your joints and back. (Am I old? I might be old.)

Such an amazing place to serve God and his people! Had a great experience and will definitely be back again! Can’t wait! :)

Love this place — it makes volunteering easy and fun! Be aware, there’s a hard sell at the end to help underwrite the cost of the food you pack up. I’m happy to donate my time, but not so much on the cash front.
This is a Christian organization, which means their mission is to feed children who are hungry of body and spirit. Not really my jam, but again, I’m happy to donate my time to a good cause. This place has it all down to a science and has streamlined the process of assembling meals. It’s amazing how much a group of people can get accomplished in an hour when everything is provided and thought out.
You can reserve your time online, then check in on computers when you arrive.

Soo, this FMSC is a bit smaller — at least in terms of coat area and gift shop/​availability of gifts — than the Aurora locale. Still, what they lack in those areas they make up for in terms of media (slide show with pictures and music, multiple videos I haven’t seen). They have a giant world map (made of wood) that is really impressive not only as wall décor, but provides a good visual of the countries served (the ones in dark brown).
But I digress — the point ISN’T entertainment or cushy accommodations — it’s to feed some kids!
I’ve had a good time at the packing sessions I’ve attended and we’ve obviously packed a lot of food for kiddos in Nicaragua and El Salvador. I’ve also learned about different Manna Packs (D and W). There’s a great cork board with updates about food distributed to the Philippines. (I’d packed for the Philippines each time in Aurora, so it’s nice to see the update.) The staff also maintains a bigger dry erase board that lists current packing records. It’s fun to see your competition and try to surpass their goal!
Oh, and the staff is very nice and also pretty funny! :)
Unfortunately I do feel like — at least this last time — some important instructions were not communicated to other volunteers very well — such as ensuring no plastic gloves or other plastic bits get into the spilled food that goes to local farmers, and ensuring that the boxes were packed according to procedure/​box diagram. Butttt I don’t feel comfortable redirecting complete strangers. I am by no means an expert, so I just hope everything turns out well.
Slots at the Schaumburg location seem to go pretty quickly, so you may need to plan in advance if you want a certain time frame!

I’m not Christian. I don’t know if that really matters or not, but just putting it out there.
Anyway, I’m not Christian, and I didn’t do any research on this organization before agreeing to volunteer with them through a UYE that Laura N. put together. So, I was a little worried when I pulled up to their warehouse and was greeted by a giant mural that said they are «feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit.» Uh oh…
I guess I was expecting that I’d be bombarded with Jesus and this 1.5 hour session that should be about doing good for other people would turn into a makeshift conversion opportunity for them. However, I was happy to to find that they do in fact focus on the children (Christian or otherwise), feeding them by packing MannaPacks, helping the disadvantaged communities from which they come, and volunteers coming together (regardless of religious affiliation or lack thereof).
We put on hairnets and started with an orientation about FMSC and what we would be doing — packing MannaPacks. Then, we were escorted to the packing floor and given a demonstration about how to properly pack.
Someone opens a bag and sticks it under the funnel while another person puts in powdered Vitamins and dehydrated Vegetables. A second scooper puts in chunks of dried Soy and then a heaping helping of Rice. The pack is then weighed and adjusted as needed, and then sealed and packed into a box after you have enough MannaPacks.
Packing meals was a bit awkward at first, but we quickly got the hang of things and worked like a well oiled machine the rest of the time there. They played some great modern and throwback hits to keep people jamming and the time flew by. I was really sad when they called out 10 minutes left and we wanted to keep packing when it was up.
After cleanup, you had the option to wait for closing speeches in the orientation area or you could pray over the MannaPacks. I opted to stick around for the prayer, but I was very appreciative that it wasn’t pushed on people and that those who didn’t want to pray were specifically given a place to hang out so they wouldn’t have to stand around feeling awkward.
Our group leader gave us some more information about FMSC and explained again how they are a non-​profit organization and that they pack the boxes of food using volunteers and use donations to ship them. You had the opportunity to donate money directly to the organization or you could go into their gift shop and purchase goods made by people in the communities which they are helping to feed. I think that is a wonderful deal and I really love that they are feeding the children and also helping their families and neighbors feel like productive members society by selling things they’ve made. Everyone’s a winner!
I had a great time and I would definitely recommend getting a group together and volunteering at Feed My Starving Children. I can’t wait to come back and do it again.

Volunteering at Feed My Starving Children was one of the most fun volunteer events I have participated in. And not just being in the company of friends (it was UYE after all) or the fun mix of music they had playing in the background, but maybe because of the immediate sense of volunteerism it gave me knowing how many people our 1.5 hour session was helping.
FMSC is a non-​profit organizations where 92% of donations goes directly toward the food program. A single meal they provide only costs 22cents. 22 cents! So even if you can’t donate your time, your monetary donation either directly or by purchasing some of the cool T’s or crafts or coffee will go a long way.
Your volunteer time starts with donning a hairnet. Everyone is rocking the hairnet when they’re at FMSC! You sign in via their computers and then you are given a short video to watch about how much help they food packs (Manna Packs) help children. To see how quickly the Manna Packs help nourish the undernourished/​starving its not hard to get teary-​eyed.
After the video, you get directions on how to fill and pack the Manna Packs. Soy, Veggies, Vitamins and Rice. It’s a very nutritious meal and kinda tastes like a hearty oatmeal (you get to try cooked samples afterward). You also help clean up your stations afterward and then find out how many boxes your work produced.
They play fun music overhead and there is a fun competitiveness in whose team packs more boxes. But all in good fun! When the team leader said there was only 5 minutes left, I wanted to keep packing! There were 75 people during our shift and we packed 19,656 meals. So amazing.
FMSC is a great place for individuals, date nights, groups or organizations to volunteer a couple hours of their day. Just sign up via their website.
FMSC is a Christian based organization and they do pray over the boxes afterward. They do invite anyone to pray with them, but if it’s not something you want to do, they’re ok with it too. No judging. It’s all about giving with FMSC. They are all heart and are truly worth checking out.

I came here last night and realized the review I wrote nearly two years ago was the only one that wasn’t a five-​star review! What?! I have no idea why that is, considering that I mention Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) to anyone looking for a cool place to volunteer. FMSC is definitely a five-​star organization.
Here’s the deal:
You show up at a random warehouse in an industrial park, put on a hairnet, watch some potentially tear-​jerking videos about world hunger, and scoop raw food (vitamins, veggies, soy, rice) into bags (MANNA Packs) while dancing to music.
And in less than two hours, you will feed about forty children for a year.
Awesome, huh? I can’t think of any other way you can help the world in two hours.
You can definitely carve some time out of your schedule to volunteer, and have some fun while you’re doing it! The music and the competitive spirit (each group/​table tries to pack more boxes than the other groups) make the time go quickly. It hardly feels like you’re ‘working.’ You are expected to clean up the area so it’s ready for the next group, but even the cleaning up is fun!
On your way out of the warehouse, you can purchase handmade items from the people being served or T-​shirts to support the organization. Since it’s a non-​profit, FMSC relies on donations from volunteers — $ 50 per person is the recommended amount although you can donate more or less. At 25 cents per meal, even a quarter is a cherished donation. The money goes directly to the food materials and children, so you don’t need to worry about it getting lost in advertising or administration or anything.
Also, since FMSC is a Christian-​based organization, they do pray over the boxes of food at the end of packing, but you can skip that if it’s not your thing. I respect this.

This is an incredible organization with a great cause: seeing that hungry/​sick kids and their families in developing countries get adequate nutrition to thrive. I came here for an UYE, and I had a lot of fun helping fill manna packs. The competitive atmosphere and teamwork made for a lot of meals made. There is also a gift shop featuring trinkets and jewelry made by the people that are served (from Haiti, Philippines, etc), as well as coffee, handbags, coffee mugs, and other gifts. All purchases benefit FMSC.
I highly recommend that you volunteer there at least once.

Truth: over 6,000 children die everyday from hunger. In Djibouti, children are being fed mud cakes since they have no food. Within a few minutes of watching the orientation video, I was in tears at Feed My Starving Children (FMSC).
Truth: you can make a difference by dedicating some free time. In two hours, our group provided food for 37 children in Djibouti, Africa that will last them a whole year. Whether your young and able or senior and retired, there is plenty of work for everyone regardless of your age or ability.
Truth: a meal only costs 25 cents to make for FMSC. If you don’t have time, you can make a donation. You can also sponsor a child by making monthly contributions where your money will go towards food, clothing, medicine, and education for organizations such as Compassion.
May the Lord bless the children who are in need and the staff at FMSC.

Looking for a great team building event that also helps out those less fortunate? Then check out Feed My Starving Children. This Christian based organization puts together meal packs that are then sent all over the world to feed children who are not getting the proper nutrition.
Located in an industrial park in Schaumburg, Feed my Starving Children uses volunteers to basically fill the food packs that are sent around. Having done food pantry work in the past– this is different. You are not putting food bundles together– rather you and your team are scooping raw product into bags, heat sealing them and packing them into cases for shipment.
The product you make is a combination of rice, soy protein, vitamins and veggies. All put together by people. Could a machine do it faster and better? Probably– all of our business minds were creating a machine to do the repetitive work as we were individually handling each item, measuring and weighing, etc but machines cost money and volunteers are free.
And this place has this down to a science with each group doing the work and then leaving the place clean and ready for those who are coming after.
A couple of notes: if you go, know that all jewelry, including rings need to be left in your car. There is also no place to put your purses so leave those as well. Although at the end, they will sell you a t shirt or some other crafts that are made by the children you are serving so you are going to need some money or a credit card in your pocket or you can run out to the parking lot to retrieve your purse/​wallet at the end.
Also know that, as a Christian organization, there is some praying and acknowledgment to God but they handle it accordingly knowing that people have different faiths, etc.
All in all a great way to give something back!

What organization packages meals for hungry children in Third World countries in a sanitary environment with various volunteers from all walks of life? … Feed My Starving Children. I truly love this place. It makes volunteering a wonderful learning experience all while having fun.
I have been volunteering for about three months. The sessions primarily consists of packaging Manna Rice bags (rice, soy, vitamins and veggies) that are boxed and then sent on to various countries. At the opening of each session, you sign in, put on your hair net and watch a brief video that tells you about the children that are serviced and the overall mission. You then wash your hands and line up by the packaging station. A demonstration is provided and then you are on your own. The music is cranked up and by the time you chat it up with your neighbors/​group and hear a few favorite songs, time is up. And on an average night, you package at least 10,000 meals.
Great place. Great cause.