WHAT'S FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN (FMSC)?
FMSC, founded in 1987, is a Christian non-profit organization that welcomes any and all people to help, so that any and all people might eat. Every year, millions of children die from preventable causes such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and undernutrition. Hunger is still causing nearly half of deaths in children under 5 years old.
FMSC believes hope starts with food. All meals are paid for by regular people, just like you. Then, volunteers pack meals at permanent sites and hundreds of MobilePack locations nationwide.
Finally, FMSC works with food distribution partners in nearly 70 countries that stay with communities for the long haul, empowering them to move from relief to development. Food assistance is vital in the process of transitioning individuals, families and communities out of desperate hunger and poverty and into self-reliance. In communities that receive FMSC meals, our artisan partners earn a fair wage for handcrafted goods. Profits fund meals for kids around the world.
WHAT'S THE ITHACA MOBILEPACK?
MobilePack events provide a unique volunteer experience to children, churches, synagogues, students, businesses, organizations, families, and individuals. Volunteers devote 2 hours of their time and money to pack meals to feed starving children.
The phrase "Ithaca Is Generous" was coined as our community has lived up to that noble description by packing over 3 million meals. These meals are paid for through fundraising activities such as Beyond the Plate, an annual yard sale, concerts, t-shirt sales, and local faith congregation fundraisers. A Steering Committee comprised of local faith congregations meets throughout the year to plan, raise funds, and bring awareness of the IMP. MobilePack volunteer registration is typically available four to six weeks prior to each event's start date.
THE ITHACA MOBILEPACK STORY
In 2009 an adoptive mom from Ithaca, with a heart to repay those who had fed her Haitian children before she adopted them, suggested that people here could make a life-saving difference for children across the world. A local church pursued this idea and developed a relationship with Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) which provided dry food to its partners in locations around the globe including Haiti. The Ithaca MobilePack (IMP) was formed to purchase and pack food through FMSC. This was done via annual multi-day food packing events in local churches.
That initial suggestion has moved children and churches, synagogues and students, business and Boy Scouts, fraternities and families, and individual benevolent-hearted Ithacans to devote 2 hours of their time, and/or some of their money to feed starving children. We coined the phrase “Ithaca Is Generous” and have helped our community live up to that noble description!
A Steering Committee comprised of local faith congregations meets throughout the year to plan and raise funds and awareness for the IMP. The cost of bringing the MobilePack to Ithaca has been about 24 cents per meal. Recent MobilePacks have packed over 300,000 meals which required raising over $70,000 each year. A local ecumenical organization Shared Journeys has served as a fiscal agent for the Ithaca MobilePack for several years.
Many people of faith who either help on the steering committee, or who come to pack have been inspired to give and serve by a verse such as this encouraging the people of God to help the poor:
"For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land."
Deuteronomy 15:11