Esperanza Hunger Update:
Esperanza’s longtime partnership with the Kyrene Family Resource Center continues in 2023. During March, Esperanza donated 72 lbs. of food. YTD Esperanza has donated 355 lbs. of food.
While the center welcomes a variety of non-perishable foods, the greatest current needs are jelly, dry beans, and diapers (sizes 6 and 7). Please place donations in the shopping cart/box in the Fellowship Hall. Thank you! For questions contact Peggy or Larry Hanson at [email protected].
To donate school supplies for the 2023/2024 school year Click Here
Feed My Starving Children, a Christian nonprofit organization dedicated to providing nutritious meals to children worldwide, will receive a helping hand from Esperanza volunteers on Wednesday, May 10.
The scheduled time for packing meals is from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at FMSC’s center, 1345 S. Alma School Road, near the old Fiesta Mall. Volunteers need to register in advance on FMSC’s site at www.fmsc.org and by entering the code ZMYB95.
Esperanza’s affiliation with FMSC dates back 20 years and the church was the first in metro Phoenix to support the organization, according to Julie Valenzuela of the church.
“This is the first time for us to help this year,” Valenzuela said.
FMSC believes hope starts with food. Hunger still causes nearly half of deaths in children younger than 5, and at least 6,200 children die daily from causes related to undernutrition.
The organization was founded in 1987 by the late Minnesota businessman Richard Proudfit, who felt challenged by the needs he witnessed on a mission trip to Honduras.
With the help of food scientists, a vitamin-and-mineral fortified rice meal was created specifically for malnourished children. Now known as MannaPacks, the meals are packed in boxes of 36 and shipped around the world from locations in Minnesota, Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona. FMSC’s site in Tempe, established in 2011, was relocated to Mesa in 2015.
Fifteen years ago, FMSC collaborated with nutritionists to develop a MannaPack food to treat diarrhea. A crops program was launched in Nicaragua in 2011 and later in seven other countries to collaborate on best practices in agriculture.
In 2017, more than 333 million meals were packed for FMSC by 1.2 million volunteers.