Feed My Starving Children

Not only does this organization have a great mission (sending starving children across 31 countries nutritional meals!), but they make it very approachable and easy for volunteers to hop in and participate! A great group of Unilocalers came here to kick off Unilocal Helps 2016 (
), and it was a super fun and rewarding experience.
The whole process was organized and informative. We watched a few short presentations, featuring rules/​regulations, food packing instructions, and of course the children that we’d help feed and their stories. Very heartbreaking and warming at the same time. Jewelry off, hairnets on, and hands washed, the Unilocal Helpers assembled at the packing stations.
We efficiently packed vitamins, veggies, soy, and rice, measured and sealed the bags, and packed up boxes while cheering. The music was cranked and the hour flew by!!! After, we were able to sample the MannaPack meal (omg it’s delicious!!) and learned that we had packed over 12,000 meals for children in Malawi. What an accomplishment.
Thank you FMSC for all that you do. Fellow community members, check out this link to volunteer at one of their 3 MN locations:

Volunteered here for my first time with Unilocal Helps!
It was so much fun but went by way too quickly! Staff is so awesome, helpful and incredibly hard working. FMSC does amazing work and they make it so easy to help their cause.
There are plenty of jobs your team (or just you) can be assigned to. Much of (if not all) the work is standing but there are jobs they can find for you if you need to sit.
They have a little shop of handmade gifts and handpicked coffee. The money goes to the artists and all the packaging tells you how many meals you’ve funded. I will definitely be shopping here for any gifts I may need.
There are three locations and I can’t wait to volunteer again!

I’ve done Feed My Starving Children several times, whether it be with my prayer group all the way to back in high school for NHS service hours. Overall, this is a great organization and provides a good volunteering experience.
I went back recently with a friend and we had a great time volunteering. It’s open to people of all ages, so the volunteer group greatly varies. There were a lot of volunteers when we went and the groups varied from high schoolers to families to a group of frat boys.
The place is very organized in terms of jobs and roles for volunteers. Everyone is put to work, which I appreciate. The place is a little cheesy, including optional prayers (but with it being a Christian organization, it’s understandable). It’s great that we help people when we’re volunteering at FMSC, but it’s definitely a self-​fulfillment type of experience.

This was truly an eye opener. Very humbling to say the least. The staff was extremely friendly. I did not feel guilted into donating in the end. I was inspired, rather, and wanted to donate. This is a noble cause, and I commend everyone who participates, especially the staff.

This was an awesome experience. I’m glad me and my coworkers took the time to help out this awesome organization. The organizers made sure we had a good time while helping people across the world.
We packed food destined for the Philippines, in the time we were there we made over 18,000 meals, enough to feed 51 kids for 1 whole year. That’s really amazing when you think about it. And overall cost was under $ 5,000.
I can’t wait to do this again. It is a really good feeling when you are done.
I have a ton of respect now for those involved making this happen for 5 shifts a day 6 days a week

It’s a great time serving with others to help kids around the world. Every time I go, the experience is top notch. They do a great job explaining what you’re going to be doing. The packing process is such a fun atmosphere. I find myself getting really competitive and that means more boxes packed! And the fact that they stick to their values is extremely admirable. They do a great job making a change in the world with a sound mission.

This place is absolutely amazing. What else can I say? Huge groups of volunteers get together and feed starving children all over the world. This is a Christian organization but you don’t have to be Christian to participate and you don’t have to be Christian to receive the food.

What an amazing organization that is truly making a positive impact in the world! We took our youth group to go pack food there and it we couldn’t have had a better experience. The process is super easy and quite enjoyable. I’ll definitely be going back many times in the future!

I have done FMSC about five times, and they are always a great time. I still don’t know why they don’t automate all this with a great philanthropist that will give them a few million dollars?
For what it is, it is a fun time for a team charitable event. I think it is more of a fundraiser thing, but that is all good. It makes everyone feel good too.
The people that work there are fantastic and they are doing what they feel is the right thing, but if they really wanted to feed as many people as possible, an automated filling machine would work a lot more efficiently.
Overall though, a great charitable organization.

My first time volunteering here and it was a truly great experience.
I also love that kids 5 and older can volunteer.
Truly great!

What a great organization and such good work!
We were visiting family in MN when we decided to volunteer here with our niece, nephew, and SIL. What a great time.
Basically, you put food in bags to send to children. There are 4 ingredients that go in a bag and in the station you fill the bag, weigh it, seal it, and box it.
The staff really created a fun working atmosphere where kids and adults were excited to help. We had a little competition to see which station made the most bags. Afterwards, we cleaned our stations and those who wanted to participate, went back to the warehouse and prayed over the food. We had tears in our eyes when a little boy (maybe 9) prayed for safe arrival for this food for kids that could be his very age. Very powerful.
This was a great experience, for all ages and a great way to give back. Thank you to this organization and I look forward to volunteering again when I am near a location.

The best place. You feel amazing after helping out! We come every month now! Tuesday nights see RICHARD!

FMSC has been a go-​to volunteer organization for me for many years.
These folks are incredibly efficient, friendly, and encouraging. I really like how easy they make it to volunteer whether you’re on your own, with your family, or a large group of co-​workers. FMSC is very kid-​friendly and I love that about them because it instills great values in kids from a young age. Every time I go I see a boyscout troop or packs of school kids. I really appreciate the look on their faces when they realize how many children they helped feed. Eye-​opening educational experience? Check.
Volunteer shifts at this location average 2 hours in length, which includes a brief video in the beginning and time to clean up at the end. Volunteers are placed at tables with 10 to 16 people depending on how many are in attendance. A few more people work the storage area and watch the tables to ensure we’re kept in stock of the needed supplies (vitamin powder, dried vegetables, soy powder, and rice). The staff are well aware that music adds to the fun so they play energetic tunes that everyone knows and can sing along to. Tables often get into a rhythm of yelling «Vita, Vegie, Soy, Rice» and shortly after proudly acknowledge when they’ve filled an entire box with the bagged food mixture. «BOX 5!!!» shout the kids next to us. «BOX 6!» we shout in return. This entertainment makes the time go by very quickly and you often hear «awww» when we’re told it’s time to stop.
At the end of the volunteer shift we’re told how many boxes were made and how many kids were fed. Wow, we did that in two hours? Amazing. This is why I keep coming back time and again. Keep up the great job FMSC!

Volunteering made SO easy!
This non-​profit Christian-​based organization has perfected service efficiency. The process is an assembly line set-​up for packing, sealing and boxing ‘manna packs’ of rice, soy and seasoning that is shipped to starving communities around the world. Specifically engineered for malnourished and starving bodies, once cooked, this mixture is formulated to kickstart metabolisms and ensure absorption.
This organization ships to many countries with which the US does not have amiable relations. In spite of this fact, over 98% of the packs shipped actually get to their destination!
What makes this such an amazing use of your time? They are amazing at accomodating groups. When volunteering for work, recruitment of approximately 120 volunteers packed enough meals to feed over 300 kids one meal a day for a YEAR. And we did it in under two hours.
When participating, you will be greeted by exciting staff who will hip you to the purpose and the process for about 20 minutes. Then you’ll remove your jewelry (FDA-​regulation), wash your hands, put on a hair net and get to packing! You’ll do so for about 1.5 hours. I can speak from repeated experience that this will be one of the quickest 1.5 hours you will ever pass volunteering. They play music in the room while you’re packing and you’re chatting and mingling with fellow volunteers. Once done, you’ll return to the main room where they will tally your hard work and tell you what country will benefit.
FMSC makes volunteering fun, easy and SUPER efficient! So rally up some friends and family and pay it forward!

I went here to volunteer with my job, it was a team building day and this was our activity rather than sitting in a meeting room. I wish we did things like this more often.
It was great to volunteer here and all the people who work here are awesome. The work you’re doing when you volunteer here isn’t hard at all — it’s just a bit time consuming and repetitive, but trust me — everytime you stop and think about how your arm or something is tired from doing your task, you instantly realize that what you’re doing is for something SOOOO much bigger than you. It definitely puts things in perspective.
If you’re looking for something to volunteer at, definitely check this place out.

I’ll have to be naïve to give this organization anything less than 5 stars.
It’s not about the place, its about the purpose. The purpose is to give meaning to human life. Its about caring for children around the world. This organization provides food for children in over 66 countries who have no idea when/​what their next meal is going to be while you and I are in a dilemma of choosing between Italian and Chinese cuisine for dinner.
FMSC is a great place for a group of people to volunteer for a couple of hours on any chosen day to help pack food (rice, soy, vegetables like Kim R mentioned in her review) to be sent to children in need across Africa, Asia and South America.
Our team, Twin Cities Owls, volunteered at FMSC this past Saturday between 7pm and 9pm. There were about 130 volunteers that night, mostly teenagers. Anne, who works at FMSC, explained to us about the organization and its commendable reach. She was very passionate about the kind of work the organization does and answered all the questions the volunteers had asked to the best of her knowledge. Each volunteer can choose the kind of activity s/​he would like to do and would be assigned to that particular task. The task is easy, fun and the kind of people who you meet there are very friendly.
Anne showed us videos of the organization’s efforts and the children benefiting from its work. Also, she ran some numbers for the volunteers that night about our performance. She informed us that in the last 5 years of her association with FMSC she has never seen such good numbers. We packed much more food than any of the groups on any given day. All 130 volunteers (including 9 from my team) packed enough food for 116 children for 1 year. That’s a record I want everyone to beat so more and more food reaches the children who go to school in some countries just to get one square meal a day.
The meal that my group had at Olive Garden (less than ½ a mile from FMSC) later that night was the most «satisfying» and rewarding meal we have ever had.
I think Unilocal could organize an event here soon to make a difference in hundreds of kids around the world.

Our department at work picked FMSC as one of our volunteer outings this year. I felt it was a well run organization from start to finish. They start out with a short briefing to get you in the right mindset and really make you understand what you’ll be doing and how it will benefit someone in need.
The work is pretty simple and encourages teamwork to operate like an efficient machine. Basically you package and box meals to be sent to a community in need. At the end of the session, they review the numbers and tell you how many meals you prepared and how many children you can feed. They really make you feel that you’re making an impact even though you only work for 2 hours. Our group was able to pack enough meals to feed 24 children for 1 year.
I would recommend this organization if you are looking for a great volunteer opportunity.

Feed My Starving Children is an awesome organization where you can volunteer to pack food that will be shipped all over the world to feed starving children. Gather a group of 10 or more for a rewarding two hours.
The work is easy, fun and you know that you are doing something to help those less fortunate. All you need to do is package the food, which consists of soy, rice and vegetables in a sealed bag.
This is a great way to help those in need. You can even host a birthday party here.