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!

Today’s blog is written by bill yoh, who has helped distribute SWH meals in Nicaragua, and written a book (unvarnished faith) about his experience

I remember the smell in the air and the shock in my bones when I saw Nicaraguan families living in a trash dump because they had nowhere else to go. I remember the way the Spirit pushed on my chest when a woman living in that dump said she was contenta.

She was happy. And grateful . . . grateful for God sending us to deliver food to feed her hungry children.

Coming out of this past weekend in North Carolina, where I got to connect with family and participate in two packing events for Servants With A Heart, the same ministry that brought me to that trash dump, I, too, am contento.

I am happy. And also grateful . . . for the chance to contribute to the food supply that helps nourish those in need, both locally and abroad.

My first mission trip with Servants With A Heart sparked a ton of unexpected changes in my life. Fast forward a few years, I now have a Master’s in Ministry and Theology, a bestselling book, Unvarnished Faith, about that trip, and I am giving talks about the importance of loving others with a servant’s heart.

It’s not often that people get to see both sides of a mission, the food preparation and delivery. But since my brother Jeff and his wife Suzanne founded Servants With A Heart, I had an “in.” When Jeff posed the idea of combining a packing event with a book talk, it was a no brainer to say, “Heck yeah!

Speaking in a YMCA gym outside of Charlotte was a sweet reminder of the power and importance of loving people with a servant’s heart. I’d been to Nicaragua to deliver the same food we were packaging on the gym floor. I’d seen hungry faces light up at the sight of a warm meal, a warm hug, and a willing prayer from a stranger. In that gym, I watched dozens of families give up their precious Saturday to fill bags with nutrient-dense food.

Between packing shifts, I got to share about my experience delivering the food and about the importance of living with unvarnished faith. Most movingly, a few others who had been on these missions shared their most meaningful memories as well.

As we packed the food and the music blared, I watched strangers become friends and I sensed hearts fill with immense joy. Nobody was there to brag about what we were doing; they were there to love with a servant’s heart, to love one another regardless of kin or creed or nation of origin. They were there to do as Jesus would do.

So yes, I am contento.

When the day came to a close, we had packed over 30,000 meals for the food insecure! Servants With A Heart created a space for people to give their time, talents, and treasures, while receiving lasting joy in the process. The experience showed how it is truly better to give than to receive . . . and that by giving, we receive as well!

If you want to experience a joy like this, please consider attending a Servants With A Heart packing event near you or partner with a local organization doing similar work. It’s powerful and it is important. God bless.

We are very happy to report that SWH meals packed by Elevation Riverwalk in Rock Hill SC, Calvary Church in Charlotte NC, Jenkins Restorations in Chantilly VA, Relevant Church in Lake Wylie SC, Rotary District 7670 and Pleasant Gardens Baptist Church in Marion, NC have been distributed in Ukraine. We even received some (relatively) recent photos. Thank you so much to our partner Convoy of Hope for shipping the meals and other types of assistance to those who really need help right now. We are grateful to see the impact we are able to make with your help!

Today’s blog is from Eve wallwork, Elizabeth lane elementary school

In March 2016, Elizabeth Lane Elementary students and staff, in Matthews, NC, packed meals for the first time with Servants with a Heart. We call this our Hawks with a Heart project. Fast forward eight years and we are now partnering with Servants with a Heart for the sixth time to pack meals. 

One of our school commitments is to ensure that each student grows socially, emotionally, and academically under our care. Hawks with a Heart is a great opportunity to teach our students empathy, compassion, the value of hard work and the impact of service through a hands-on project that makes a huge impact on hungry families in Nicaragua. 

The cost to host a packing event is covered for public schools the first year. Our challenge for each of the subsequent years we host a packing event is to raise the funds to cover the cost of the meal ingredients. Our goal is to raise $8,500 so we can pack 50,000 meals. We want our students to understand the power of working together toward a common goal. We have met or exceeded that target every year!  

Students are encouraged to raise money by supporting their family, friends, and neighbors through acts of service. Teachers, students, and families brainstorm ideas for earning money with a goal for each student to contribute around $15. Every year our students impress us with their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. This year we had many students perform chores at home or help siblings with homework. Other students held lemonade or bake stands. Some students helped neighbors spread mulch, walk dogs, and water plants.  One student even made a deal with a his parents to match his earnings so he could donate double the amount. Through this service work, Elizabeth Lane students raised over $11,000 in just under two weeks! 

We love seeing how our students will earn the money needed to fund our next project. We look forward to working with Servants with a Heart to make an impact in our community and around the world.

ELE 2nd-grader, Tristan Tully, sold cookies and brownies to earn money for our Hawks with a Heart project.

Today’s blog is from Jeffrey yoh, co-founder of servants with a heart

I am writing this while flying home from spending four days in Nicaragua on our first Servants With a Heart trip since September of 2019. We had planned for a group of four men to go down, but as it turned out, only David Hair and I made the trip due to some unfortunate traffic the morning we left.

I am happy to say that it appears the country has made it through the pandemic and other immediate issues and seems safe for us to visit regularly again. Our partner, Samaritan’s International, is doing very well and we had a good visit with Patrick and his team. During the past few years, although they were unable to receive our food, they continued to receive some from other contacts. One difficult change the government has made is to require Samaritan’s to submit a list of all people who will receive the meals as the meals go through the customs process. Then they must show proof that those people did indeed receive the food. This is a very time-consuming ordeal, but they are ready to receive our food again—and one container is already on the way!

We were blessed to meet with one of the groups we have sent our food to in the meantime. Eddie from Orphan Network has been working with different nonprofits in Nicaragua and has a very large network of schools and churches to which he provides food. I am confident that our food over the last couple of years has made a big impact.

The highlight of our trip was a visit to the village of Las Hamacas, an “off-the-grid” area with no cell service, electricity or water. The people there had a church service for us, honoring Servants With a Heart with many kind comments regarding the impact our food makes. It was quite humbling! We also cooked meals for them from the one box of meals we hand carried on the flight down. It was packed on December 11th at Relevant Church in Clover, South Carolina, which is our (Suzanne’s and my) home church. The children and adults we fed there were truly beautiful people.

I certainly look forward to making regular visits to Nicaragua again!

Today’s post is from Chuck Scoggins, Communications director at relevant church in Lake Wylie, sc

There is a strong connection between hunger and chronic diseases. When there is an absence of nutrition, people suffer and die. Making sure people have access to nutritious and clean food should be a priority for all of us, as it is for Servants With a Heart. That’s why it was a privilege for us as the people of Relevant Church to cancel our worship services and pack meals as part of our Live to Give event back in December 2022.

After all, Scripture tells us in Proverbs, James, and Romans — among other places — to feed those who are hungry. We are even commanded in the Bible to go so far as to provide provision for our enemies.

Feeding people is a virtuous endeavor and an end in itself. Hunger is bad.

However, it’s also important for us to remember there is a type of hunger that cures our ailments; a thirst to cure our spiritual disease. In fact, we are instructed to seek it out:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6; emphasis added). The satiation of our souls is found in craving. The food we need most is found in a person. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) 

The cure for a famished spiritual life is found in loving Christ. But how does that love demonstrated? We must look back to the beginning. Jesus tells us: “Feed my sheep” (John 12:17).

The work of Servants With a Heart is crucially important for the practical need of human life and sustenance. Their important work will prevent disease and death. The miracle of their work, though, is that as we support them in their mission, we fill the bellies of our own souls with living water. Oh what a blessing to taste and see the goodness of our Lord in serving his children.

Thank you, Servants With a Heart, for providing the opportunity to feast at the table of service.