The right to food is a basic human right. Investing in sustainable food systems and rural development means addressing some of the major global challenges – from feeding the world’s growing population to protecting the global climate, and tackling some of the root causes of migration and displacement.
Currently, St. Philip supports 3 Feeding Centers in Mponela Parish in Malawi. The feeding centers serve nutritional meals to 150 orphans and vulnerable children each week during the rainy season (27 weeks). They also provide a mobile health clinic for families. $3 feeds one child for one week. Each center requires $450 each week to feed all 150 children. For the full 27 weeks, Mponela Parish needs $12,150! St. Philip’s noisy offerings have raised $1161 in 2017 – enough to feed all 150 kids for about 2 ½ weeks.
Elijah’s Backpack currently serves 43 kids in north Roanoke County – and more will join the program in the next few weeks. In 2016-2017, Elijah’s Backpack packed over 1700 bags of food. More than 50 volunteers logged nearly 5000 hours of service to kids in our community. Elijah’s Backpack has also added a new school this year: the Minnick School. We join others across Virginia in a goal to have no child hungry on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, October 31, 2017.