Feed the Hungry

One of my decisions during this Lent was to volunteer as a family at Feed My Starving Children.  We have gone there once before and was great.  Since one of the Corporal Work of Mercys is Feeding the hungry, this was the best way to fulfill it.  On the day we had signed up to go happened to be the most tiring day for me as well as for Sony at work and kids were so tired that they fell asleep on the way there.  The volunteering time we chose was on a Tuesday from 8pm to 9:30pm.  It was bed time for kids but still we went since we had made the decision to do it. 

Only 5 year olds and up can participate in packing the food.  This year George participated.  He woke up when we got there and was not too happy.  He wanted to go back home.  Anna also woke up once we got there but was just very cranky and was on my shoulders for most of the time. 

In my mind I questioned myself whether it was the best decision to come there that day.  Especially with sleepy and unhappy kids, me and Sony extremely tired and also knowing that the short nap the kids got in the car will keep them awake for the night. 

But when you make a sacrifice for the Lord, even when it does not make any sense, God sees it.  He appreciates it.  Guess what!! My unhappy George who did not want to participate became so excited once he started helping pack the food.  At the end he said” Mamma, I loved it.  I want to do this again” 

Anna woke up and started crying for good 15 minutes but afterwards she also started enjoying the music and watching what everyone was doing.  Those who cannot pack food can stay back and stick the expiry stickers on the bags.  We both sat and I was able to put stickers on at least 50 bags. 

Later on me and Sony switched places and I started helping with packing food with George while Sony took Anna.  Ultimately we all were happy.  Kids had a great time.  Despite the fact that me and Sony were extremely tired we felt great satisfaction and joy in being able to do something beautiful with our children. 

At the end of the whole packing they show us a video of the people who are getting the food we packed.  This time they showed 4 kids in Africa who were abandoned by their dad.  Mom could not take care of them by herself and by trying to feed them with the little she could bring home kept the kids alive, but she died leaving these 4 children, oldest being 8 years old and youngest being just 18 months.  When the people found these children they were just bones and youngest child was only 9 pounds and he was 2 years old at the time.  They started giving them the food from America packed by Feed my starving children group and now the child is 3 years old and weighs 23 pounds.  They said that these children did not know how to smile.  They were scared and abandoned and living in a small hut.  Now after taking care of them they are able to smile and we could see all this in the video.  The children and them smiling and talking, they were thanking us for packing food and sending it there. 

It is after watching this video I truly felt how important it was for us to go there and offer the least we could in feeding the hungry.  With teary eyes I thought to myself how blessed we and our children are that we never get to know the pain of hunger, our children have everything in plenty.  At the end they give us a sample of the food and George tasted it and he did not like it at all.  He asked me how they can eat this good.   It doesn’t taste good at all.  I was able to tell him they did not have a choice and they would starve if they don’t eat this food.  I was also able to tell him how we have so many choices and yet we complain about the food we have on our table. 

A beautiful lesson learned.