True North

Last night my daughter and I helped save lives.The youth group from our church joined two other churches at Feed My Starving Children (a Minnesota based NPO) to donate a little of our time.The face of America in the world does not always have a helmet over it.

This organization is brilliant.Their target is severely impoverished countries like Haiti, and severely malnourished people.(One of the most common foods in Haiti is a cake made from clay with a bit of sugar.)FMSC employed food scientists to develop a formula for a high nutrition, low cost meal that can be transported and stored easily, and prepared in primitive situations.

The result was a blend of rice, soy, dried vegetables and a chicken flavoring that contains ten vitamins and minerals.It is mixed into boiling water and creates a kind of stew similar to risotto in texture.

The assembly and organization is no less ingenious.FMSC is a non-profit entirely supported by individuals and corporations.There is ZERO government involvement.Volunteers assemble in shifts, and after some basic training anda video showing the people who will be eating thanks to their generosity,the volunteers go into the work room.

There are several stations centered around a funnel.Bins and bags of ingredients are on tables, and the rice, soy, vegetables and flavor/vitamin mixture are measured and poured down the funnel into a plastic bag.The bag is heat-sealed and 36 are placed in a box.One package feeds four.The boxes are then sealed, weighed and palletized, ready to ship off to people who have been eating dirt and leaves to soothe the pain in their stomach.

In forty-five minutes work last night, fifty of us assembled over 8400 meals.We were the fourth shift of the day.

Needless to say, this sort of humanitarian aid is only possible in countries stable enough to allow aid workers (FMSC has a mission partner in Haiti that distributes the food, for example).The reason I bring this up is we get so focused on our military interventions that we lose sight of those humanitarian ones.A balanced world-view is crucial.Believe it or not, America doesn’t suck.

Cross-posted at Anti-Strib