News

A bicycle is a pastime for most Americans, but in many parts of the world a bicycle is a critical mode of transportation that serves many purposes. From transporting goods to the market, giving rides, and getting to work or school, to navigating limited road infrastructures bicycles often become a valuable source of mobility.

Bicycles are a long-term resource that requires very little maintenance and no expensive fuel. When something as simple as a bicycle can solve multiple issues and offer sustainable transportation, then it’s important to give our attention and resources to getting bicycles to those who can use them.

Thanks to Isaiah, Many People Have Bicycles

Isaiah, a young man from southwest Minnesota has a passion for helping others. He pays close attention to world events, and lets the needs of others inspire him to take action. Seeing the Haiti hurricane destruction prompted him to raise $500 and start collecting bikes to give away. Over the course of six months, Isaiah was able to motivate his family, friends, and neighbors into helping him collect bikes. Together they got the word out and people started donating bikes which he had refurbished in Iowa and then prepared to eventually ship to Haiti, Afghanistan and parts of Africa.
Isaiah said he is working on “getting some bike paths around Byron, MN,” his hometown, as well as collecting “bikes for kids who don’t have any” in his area. Isaiah highlights his causes on his own website, “Isaiah Bikes for a Cause”.

Food for Kidz Pledged to Help!

Food for Kidz heard what Isaiah wanted to do and pledged to help him get the bicycles he collected delivered to Haiti, Afghanistan and other places around the world. Isaiah collected an amazing 1,000 bicycles in his efforts! Food for Kidz worked with Isaiah, his parents and Public Affairs to coordinate not only the shipment, but the witnessing of the airlift by Isaiah and his friends. They were allowed on the airfield and treated to a tour of the C-5 airplane by the Air Force pilots.

Isaiah was able to sit in the cockpit seats of the pilot, co-pilot, and navigator. Together, we witnessed the loading of the aircraft and the 1,000 bikes that have no doubt changed the lives of those who have received them.

Thank you, Isaiah, for making a difference in the lives of so many people. We look forward to all the great things you will continue to accomplish.

One scoop at a time, each meal needs to be packaged with precision and care. It’s volunteers, willing to scoop, measure, and weigh who have helped package and feed millions of people around the world. Two hours of measuring ingredients and visiting with friends turns into so much more, when it’s amplified by more volunteers, more two hour time increments, and thousands of meals ready to ship!

Never under-estimate the power of one person to make a difference. That’s why each First Wednesday of the Month we offer a consistent packing event for those who can give of their time and get involved with Food for Kidz in meaningful ways.

Why help package food on the first Wednesday of each month?

• If you participated in a recent event and want to do it again right away and continue helping, rather than waiting for the next event to get organized.
• If you are not part of an organization or club that is large enough to schedule your own packing event
• You want to bring a child to try it for the first time and show them what a meaningful experience it is.
• You are looking for a way to give back and volunteer locally, for a few hours or as many as you’d like.
• To experience the process and learn, so you can better prepare and organize for your own upcoming food packing event.
• A small group you are a part of wants a hands-on learning experience or service project.
• Service learning opportunity for small youth groups or homeschool cooperatives to teach: world issues, social studies, geography, health and nutrition.
• You are planning a mission trip abroad and will be somewhere that Food for Kidz food is received; it’s good to experience the complete process from beginning to end.

Your donation of $32.40, together with your willingness to work will not only feed a child for 7 months, but also provide the protein and nutrition to function and thrive like never before.

YOUR help is needed!

First Wednesday of Each Month
Cactus Jack’s
Hwy 212 East
Stewart, MN
Shift One: 4pm to 6pm
Shift Two: 6pm to 8pm
* Watch for occasional date changes depending where the 1st Wednesday of the Month lands on the calendar!

Together is indeed, a wonderful place to be, as evidenced recently when many organizations came together to package, ship, and distribute over 1.5 million healthy meals to the Philippines. Millions of people are still recovering from the devastating Typhoon Haiyan on November 8, 2013, but together, with the help of many volunteers, donors, and organizations who value partnerships we can accomplish so much.

Nine years ago, Food for Kidz helped the Outreach Program founders, Floyd Hammer and Kathy Hamilton get started in Union, Iowa. Since that time, Outreach continues to focus on developing services in the area of water, food, medicine, and education and values partnering with other organizations to further their efforts. It’s Outreach who initiated coordination of the 1. 5 million meals to the Philippines, pulling in other organizations: Food for Kidz, Rotary International, Somebody Cares International, Comprehensive Disaster Response and Friends Against Hunger. We are proud to share this story and its testament to what can be accomplished when we all work together!
The loading of 1,425,600 nutritious meals for disaster relief in the Philippines from Outreach’s Des Moines warehouse began on Monday, Dec. 23. Five forty-foot containers began loading in the frigid weather that day. Two more loaded on Tuesday and the remaining loaded on Thursday. Since the previous announcement in November of one million meals donated, an additional 425,600 meals have been provided. The meals were packaged by volunteers across the U.S. and will be distributed in the Philippines by Somebody Cares International, Rotary International, and Comprehensive Disaster Response Services.

“We are delighted that Rotary International made it possible to send additional meals and we appreciate Somebody Cares International for their support,” said Outreach, Inc. Founder Floyd Hammer. “We are very grateful to Food for Kidz in Minnesota and Friends Against Hunger in Missouri for also contributing meals. We are sending a real Christmas present to the Philippines!”
Rotary International Clubs in the U.S. and Philippines are integral partners in this initiative. Rotary District 6000 of Iowa and District 7230 of New York, under the leadership of District Governors Jacque Andrew, Matts Ingemanson, and Outreach Board Member Renato Romano of the Beverly Hills Rotary are providing financial support for transport of the meals. Mr. Romano presented the Outreach program to Rotary Clubs in Beverly Hills, New York, and Washington, D.C. to raise additional funds for the Philippine effort.
Somebody Cares International, a non-profit with expertise in disaster and crisis response, Vice President, Jodie Chiricosta says, “We are so grateful for the partnership with Outreach. Together with Rotary we will be able to deliver and assist with the distribution of the 1.5 million nutritious meals to typhoon survivors in some of the hardest hit areas. It will be a life-saver for many communities — a real answer to prayer.”

Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS), also on the ground in the Philippines, and Romano will assist with the distribution of the meals. Distribution of meals will be under the personal guidance of Philippine Rotary Governor Daumonguiller Tumangan. Rotarians at Cebu, Manila, and Tacloban will assist in delivery and distribution. The shipping time is forty-five to sixty days.
Together is indeed, a wonderful place to be!

Ten years ago, in a small town about an hour southwest of Mpls – St. Paul, MN, a few compassionate people established an organization and embarked on a journey that would take them around the world many times over and impact millions of lives. John Neisen founded Feeding Children in Stewart, MN, a small town with the population of 558. Just a blip on the Highway 212 corridor, Feeding Children began with the goal of packaging 1 million meals in its first 3.5 years. And then a curious thing happened. They reached that goal within the first year! The rest of the amazing story needs to be told.

Food for Kidz celebrates tens of millions of meals over the ten years

Feeding Children built a warehouse along the highway within a couple of years, and quickly outgrew the space. They purchased the Stewart school complex in 2009, and built a four bay loading dock onto the school for more efficient operations. With this addition, Feeding Children was consolidated into one location, complete with offices, space for equipment, ingredient storage, and finished product waiting to be shipped. The original warehouse was transformed into a maintenance hub for their fleet of trailers and four semi tractors.

When Feeding Children of Stewart started in 2003, the world events were different, but the need for basic essentials like clean water and nutritious food has always remained the same. The thousands of people in Iran, Algeria and the Greek Island of Lefkada experienced the wide-spread devastation of earthquakes in 2003, and in the same year so many people suffered from the outbreak of conflict in Darfur and Iraq. In the last ten years, Feeding Children has responded to situations like these bringing food and hope to people in Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, South America, Central America , and right here in the United States. In 2013, just ten years later, there’s a dire need for relief in Haiti, Philippines, Syria, Afghanistan and other places around the world.

When Hurricane Katrina hit our southern coast in 2005, Feeding Children was able to quickly respond. Feeding Children sent food to a Second Harvest food distribution site in Shreveport, Louisiana, and they were able to distribute food to people across several states.

Feeding Children, who now does business as (DBA) Food for Kidz since 2010, always receives tremendous support during times of crisis or when disasters happen. The thousands of volunteer hours it takes to package food, as well as monetary donations to Food for Kidz allows for instantaneous response to people in need. Millions of meals were shipped to Sri Lanka, Indonesia after the tsunami in 2004. Millions more were sent to Kenya for distribution in the refugee camps and areas supporting the Somalia refugees who were desperately seeking assistance because of the drought in the area. In 2010, Food for Kidz worked with their partner organization, Lifeline Christian Missions to deliver meals in Haiti, spanning 32 different mission sites and serving 45,000 people. Today, Food for Kidz is making sure healthy meals arrive at Afghanistan refugee camps and orphanages established due to drought and war and the Philippines after the hurricane.

A lot has happen in 10 years, but only with the generous help from those who volunteer and support Food for Kidz. With a small staff at Food for Kidz, they rely upon a core of 10-15 dedicated volunteers whose competence and compassion continue to propel them toward their mission: “to bring awareness to hunger issues in the world by involving others in the participation of packing a nutritional meal supplement for distribution and also involve them in sustainability building to facilitate change; to expand the concept of children’s’ experiences beyond their vision of local to incorporate the world and to service, promote and educate other organizations to encourage their commitment for the purpose of making positive results in the fight against hunger.”

On their 10 year anniversary, Food for Kidz celebrates tens of millions of meals that have been packaged and distributed all over the world. They celebrate having helped many partners start or further develop their own programs which include: ImpactLives, St. Louis Park, MN; Lifeline Christian Missions, Ohio; Helping Honduran Kids, WI; Kids Fighting Hunger, St. Cloud, MN; Then Feed Just One, IA; Stop Hunger Now, NC; Food for Orphans, CO; Hope International, MO.; Hunger Ends Here, MN. It is a core value of Food for Kidz to continue to reach out to more partners and bring more into the embrace of their network.

Food for Kidz wishes to extend a warm thank you to everyone who has helped spread the word about the organization, raised funds, organized events, and volunteered to package food. Together is a wonderful place to be, and together we’ll continue to make a difference in the lives of others and empower change.

As the devastation in the Philippines continues to unfold, our hearts go out to the thousands of people whose lives are forever changed by Typhoon Haiyan that ravaged many parts of the country on November 8, 2013.

When natural disasters such as these happen, people want to help. So do we! While Food for Kidz has responded to all types of natural disasters in the past, we are not an emergency relief agency. Our food and assistance will bring relief to thousands of hungry people, but we are careful not to hinder other emergency efforts already underway. Instead, we focus on what we can do right now to provide the maximum help and relief when arrangements are made. To do that, we are committed to responding with a well-planned approach.

Our well planned approach, already underway includes the need to:

• Establish a partner organization on the ground in the Philippines with the best resources, connections, and infrastructure to get food to those who need it most.
• Identify a mode of transportation and the funding required to get the food where it needs to go and into the hands of hungry people.
• Assess customs requirements and coordinate all efforts involved.

Yes, we will send what food we can, as soon as possible. Again, great efforts are being made by various military and civilian disaster response teams that know how to answer the call for need and do it well. The help Food for Kidz can provide will make a difference, as long as we have a plan in place and can insure the right connections are made to get the food quickly to people.

How can you help right now?

For us to be able to respond when the time comes, we need to have food packaged and ready to ship! We need those interested in helping to get started with organizing a packing event! People who are willing to assist by scheduling and coordinating a packing event as a response to the needs in the Philippines should call us.