A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of packing meals with Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy, a charter school in Charlotte NC. They shared some thoughts about their experience with us.

Today our scholars, staff, and volunteers joined together to make 50,000 meals for those in need! Students were not only able to be hands-on in the meal preparation process, but they also learned so much about the purpose of Servants With a Heart and about the communities that are served by this incredible nonprofit.

Many thanks to Servants With a Heart for this wonderful opportunity to show our scholars what we can achieve for others when we work together. Their eye-opening educational session on child hunger opened our eyes to the realities faced by many children around the world. We learned how packing meals can make a big difference in these children’s’ lives. Thanks to their guidance, our students and staff worked together and packed an astounding 50,544 meals. It’s amazing how we can help fight child starvation right from our own school. This experience not only united our school community but has also instilled a sense of empathy and responsibility in all of us, while also making us aware of the world around us. Big thanks to Servants With a Heart for showing us how to make a real impact!

Today’s blog is from Michelle Bitter, Assistant Principal at McKee Road Elementary in Charlotte NC

This was an entire school-wide planned event. Everyone in the building pitched in, from setting up the night before, to scheduling the times for classes, meal packing and packing and cleaning up afterwards. Every student in the building participated from 4-year-old Pre-K students to 5th graders! We had every classroom teacher (general education, special area, and support staff), administrators, custodians, students and their families. We even had our spouses come lend a hand!

Students took a lot of pride in helping others in their community and around the world. We were able to pack 51,624 meals and helped Servants With a Heart pack their 27 millionth meal! Some of the students commented:

• "This service made me want to donate because it was useful and so helpful to other people." Lily
  

• " It feels nice to give to people in need! Just imagining the smiles makes me smile!" Reese
  

• "It felt really good to help feed other people. It was interesting and fun to pack meals. Required a lot of great teamwork!" Kritika
  

• "We helped change the world! It was fun. It was very well organized." Amulya

Everyone stepped in and worked together. Everyone was excited about how many boxes they could fill. The energy was high and we were all full of excitement throughout the day. Students were beaming with pride heading back to class!

We had the opportunity to visit Nicaragua last month and are excited to share some information about our new partner there, Convoy of Hope!

We have been shipping meals to Ukraine over the past two years with Convoy and have now begun shipping to their facility in Nicaragua. Several members of the SWH Leadership Team were able to visit with their local team last month and are excited about what they learned. Today’s blog is from Jeffrey Yoh, Co-Founder of Servants With a Heart.

We could not have been more impressed with the professionalism, culture, and depth of leadership at each level of Convoy of Hope. What makes this assessment even more impressive is the entire team of 37 people is made up of Nicaraguan nationals. This is tremendously helpful on multiple fronts, including navigating the labyrinth of government regulations on charities.

The Convoy Nicaragua team has a very strong foundation of faith with a quiet sincerity and strength. You can read more about them here:  https://convoyofhope.org/tag/nicaragua/  We were very impressed with the leadership and quality of people in the organization; both the country director and head of women’s empowerment are doctors.

They receive over 30 large containers of food per year and the addition of SWH meals will only add to their capacity to engage other communities. Convoy is currently serving approximately 80,000 children in Nicaragua. They record height and weight of children to help determine risk levels within communities.

We were able to visit their extremely well-organized warehouse and also learn about their Community Development program. Their whole-community approach is very impressive. Convoy of Hope has both women’s empowerment and agriculture components that complement the feeding program to make people more self-sufficient. These three support channels are truly synergistic and clearly more than simple experiments. Each is resourced with well-trained and very capable people.

It was a fantastic visit and we look forward to many more! If you are interested in joining us on a trip to Nicaragua to learn more about Convoy of Hope and to distribute the food we pack, please let us know at info@servantswithaheart.org

Today’s guest blogger is Melissa Goldstein, who has been attending SWH events since we started in 2011!

What a great experience it was to pack with Servants With a Heart and their partner Furniture Factory Outlet World, and especially fun was this opportunity as it was so close to Christmas! This opportunity was especially meaningful as the meals were going into the local community to feed those near to us who are hungry. I can think of no better way to celebrate the holiday season than by serving your neighbor.

This event was tailored to a smaller group, primarily consisting of SWH Leadership Team family and a few friends. Despite a small number, nearly 10,000 meals were packed in less than 2 hours and conversation abounded as new friends were made and old relationships celebrated. Looking forward to future Christmastime events in the years to come!

If you are interested in hosting a smaller event at our facility within furniture factory outlet world in Waxhaw, please check out the “host an event” page on this site and reach out to us at info@servantswithaheart.org

Thank you to Rebekah baldi, from Jenkins restorations, for writing today’s blog!

Every year, Jenkins Restorations eagerly anticipates its partnership with Servants With a Heart and the heartwarming food packing event that we host together. It's a time we reflect on our many blessings and come together with the spirit of gratitude and giving back. This cherished collaboration allows us to extend our hands in service, blessing those around us and, in return, receiving more blessings than we could have ever imagined.

The community involvement at this annual event is nothing short of awe-inspiring. The roster of volunteers, who continually return year after year, is a testament to the enduring impact of this initiative. At the heart of it all is a shared commitment to making a difference in our community and across the globe.

The event, held on December 2 this year, was nothing short of a success. The joyous sound of Christmas music echoed through the venue as over 120 employee and community volunteers joined forces to pack over 63,000 meals. It was a day filled with camaraderie, laughter, and a shared sense of purpose that transcended the Christmas season.

The success of this event is a testament to the power of collaboration and community spirit. Jenkins Restorations is immensely grateful for the dedication of every volunteer and their willingness to give up their time to serve others. Beyond the sheer numbers and the meals packed, friendships were forged, and a community bond was strengthened. It is a reminder that the impact of such events extends far beyond the immediate assistance provided; it leaves an enduring legacy of compassion and unity.

In the aftermath of the event, the memories linger, serving as a source of inspiration for the future. Jenkins Restorations is honored to be a part of a community that values compassion and service, and we look forward to continuing this tradition of giving back in the years to come.

What a wonderful experience Jeff and I had last week at Built for Hope: Convoy of Hope’s Global Headquarters & Training Center Dedication in Springfield, Missouri. We were grateful to be included at such an exciting and informative event.

We have partnered with Convoy over the past year and a half to send roughly one million meals to Ukraine to aid in their relief efforts. But Convoy is so much more than that! According to MO Governor Mike Parson, who was in attendance, “Since 1994 Convoy has served over 200 million people with over 2 billion pounds of food and supplies through children’s feeding programs, disaster response, and community events.” Founder Hal Donaldson talked about their feeding programs (in 33 countries around the world!), disaster services (they served 4.5 million people suffering from disasters in 2022), women’s empowerment initiatives (just $300 provides seed capital for one woman to start a business), and sustainable agriculture practices (they’ve trained 80,000 individuals in agriculture and currently have 17 countries with agriculture programming).

Jeff and I were able to not only tour the Global Headquarters & Training Center, but also their World Distribution Center and the first phase of their outdoor Center for Agriculture & Food Security. Please check out their website to learn more (and enjoy our photos below): www.convoyofhope.org

Suzanne and Jeffrey Yoh, Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors, Servants With a Heart

We are happy to report that food packed by summer campers at BeDoTell, a North Carolina Baptist camp that meets at Fort Caswell is on its way to their partner in Haiti! Below we borrowed a few pictures from their event, as well as one of their container.

We love packing with St. Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte—and have done so for many years. Please see this news story on their latest event!

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255134/catholic-parish-meals-for-haiti-st-matthew-charlotte

Today’s blog is from a student who participated in a packing event at her school this spring

When we were in the auditorium, we were laughing, telling jokes, and arguing over small things, like many teens in the U.S. do. We made fun of hardships and grief. We thought the world was a joke, and many of us still do, but Servants With a Heart has helped us wake up a bit.

To be in America right now—a first-world country—and be able to afford food and housing is a blessing. We have everything we need. We get upset when we don’t like the food that we get and just ignore the fact that we have food. Since we are so blessed, we don’t realize the realities of the world, and everything seems funny to us.

But we all fell quiet when we saw kids—our age, same eyes, same ears, same heart, struggling to survive. They were malnourished and needed food to protect them from health problems later on in life. Being malnourished can affect people’s development by increasing the risk of physical and psychological problems. We saw how blessed we were to have food on the table every day. We saw that people in the world are facing difficulties we couldn’t even imagine. Before, we just heard that we were blessed, but now, we see what people really meant when they said that.

When we went to pack the food, we saw that we had to try to get as many nutrients into the food as we could. We packed rice and dried vegetables, soy and vitamin/mineral powder. We saw that the amount of food we packed into the bag would represent just one to two normal meals for us. The bag was meant to feed six people. They didn’t have the luxury to choose what they got to eat, they just had to get enough food.

Servants With a Heart motivated us to help people in any way we can, to recognize problems, and work to find ways to fix them. They are helping people get what they need. What we did that day might have helped many, many kids. They opened our eyes to problems around the world, so maybe, one day, we can help fix them. Servants With a Heart helped wake us up.

Ayesha, 6th-grade student, Harold E. Winkler Middle School

This week, we received a very kind letter from the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, thanking us (and you!) for the meals we have sent to Ukraine since the spring of 2022. Our count is up to nearly one million meals with the help of a variety of groups and churches, as well as our shipping partner, Convoy of Hope. We pray we can continue to provide relief where it is needed, and are happy to share the letter below with you!