“Our greatest desire is to reach people, who others aren’t able to reach. We want to go where people can’t go, where people don’t go, people haven’t gone, to be able to share Christ’s love and to be Christ’s hands and feet to them.”

On this FMSC [Virtual] Food In Action Trip, we follow a MannaPack® shipment on its journey to Esteli, Nicaragua, where Feed The Hungry has established a feeding program in one of the largest garbage dumps in the country.

It is in this garbage dump where families take refuge. Children and adults forage for food and pieces of metal and plastic to sell as their only source of income.

Most of the children living in the garbage dump have little to eat. Typically, their only meal is the one they receive at the feeding center.

Like five-year-old Jose, who digs through the trash every day searching for cans and plastic bottles for a little bit of money. His goal: to gather enough to earn $3.

“The feeding program is my hope”

Kendra shares a story of a mom who once had no hope of being able to provide food for her child who cried of hunger as she put him to bed every night on a piece of cardboard inside their plastic shack. “You’ll never really be able to understand what [the feeding program] means for me,” the mom said. “The feeding program is my hope. Every day, my son wakes up and I know that at noon, he’s going to go to the church and he’s going to have a warm, nutritious meal.” A meal that is only made possible by your generous support.

Empty bowls and big smiles

Pastor Edgard works in the feeding center and shares how one of the most impactful things for him is seeing the kids running toward the church with empty plates and glasses — racing toward him with smiles on their faces. “An empty plate and an empty glass produces a big smile on the faces of the children … because they know they’re going to get a nutritious meal,” he says.

“Families find community in the garbage dump”

Families like the Velazquez family left Honduras and came to Nicaragua for a better life. Now, they have a place to live as well as a place to congregate and worship. In this place, they found community, safety and a place where their children will be fed. They are grateful for the feeding center because before they suffered and struggled with hunger.

“It’s people like this, who we want to be Christ’s hands and feet to,” says Kendra.

Feed The Hungry started out feeding 200 kids in Nicaragua in 2008. Today, thanks to your support, 90,000 children receive nutritious MannaPack meals.

Will you fund meals for families like the Velazquez family and all the children living in the Esteli garbage dump?

These are just the highlights from our [Virtual] Food In Action Trip to Nicaragua. Watch the full experience here