Rich Smith shares why feeding the hungry is more than just giving food.
A few years ago, I sat in a small room, not much bigger than a garden shed, which was home to a grandmother called Rosemary, her son and her grandson. They lived in Epworth, a poor suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe. Rosemary’s grandson attended a school where Feed The Hungry had started a feeding programme, and she was so grateful that he was getting a regular meal through the school, which eased the pressure on her.
Rosemary, her grandson and her son live in Epworth, Zimbabwe.
As we sat and talked with Rosemary, Pastor Elna, who leads our partner organisation in Zimbabwe, shared why we were feeding her grandson; we believe that she, Rosemary, and her family are valuable to God – they are loved by Him and are significant.
Rosemary asked more questions, and then Pastor Elna asked if she would like to come to know Jesus?
Rosemary and her son both started their Christian faith journeys that day.
My role at Feed The Hungry means that I have to deal with a lot of numbers, which track, measure and represent all sorts of different things. The number of meals packed, the amount of money raised, the percentage of children who…it’s all important information that shows the impact that you make through Feed The Hungry.
And it is a significant impact – between January 2024 and January 2025, 120,000 more children and young people started to be fed through our feeding programmes around the world because of the support of people like you. That’s a huge increase in a relatively short time.
But ultimately, what we do is not just about ‘more’ – it’s not about growth or bigger numbers. It’s about people knowing that they have value; that they are loved and that they have a part to play in the world. It’s about people finding significance.
You’re probably familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. At the base level, there are things like food, air, water, and then as you move up, there’s safety, belonging and relationships. At Feed The Hungry, we talk about journeying people from Survival to Stability, to Sustainability, to Significance – it’s the same idea. Basic needs that aren’t being met tend to be obvious; hunger, lack of shelter, poor medical care, but we want to go beyond only the base-level needs. We want people to feel safe, we want them to have dignity, we want them to feel valued and to dream of a better future for themselves and their families, and to even see it become a reality.
And most of all, like Rosemary, we want people to come to know Jesus. He is where true significance is found.
