FEED helps the hungry with sales of eco-friendly items
FEEDnbsp;Projects was founded on a simple notion: Small gifts can make a big difference.
The anti-hunger nonprofit’s mission is to manufacture and sell quality products to feed the hungry of the world. Its signature product, a reversible burlap and organic cotton bag called the FEED 1 bag, provides meals for a child for one school year. It is stamped with the number “1” to indicate the child it feeds.
The products are not just beneficial as fundraisers, they are socially conscious in and of themselves. Most of the goods – jewelry, T-shirts, scarves, teddy bears and more – are organic, eco-friendly and crafted of natural fibers. The nonprofit sources the items through local artisans, providing employment and greater financial resources to communities in need.
“Global hunger tends to be a really big issue but everybody can make a difference,” Katy Wanserski, director of sales and global logistics at FEED, said. “That one meal to somebody makes a difference in their lives. Or the micronutrient powder makes a difference in a child’s growth. A small amount of money can make a true difference in someone’s life.”
Hunger is the largest killer in the world, affecting more people than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
Every time consumers purchase a FEED item, they know exactly how – and how many – people they are helping. The recently launched FEED red love bag provides AIDS medication for infected adults and children around the globe as well as 30 meals, without which the medication would be useless. Another initiative promotes sales of baby clothes to fund Vitamin A treatments through UNICEF. Buyers may select their product based on what cause or geographic area they want to support.
“A lot of companies are giving back, but it is sometimes a vague number, profits or proceeds or percentages of this and what FEED does well is that tangible number,” Wanserski said. “So somebody knows how many kids they are helping. It’s pretty transparent.”
Other products fund causes more generally, claiming to “put it where it is needed most.”
“People often don’t realize that it doesn’t take a lot of money to provide a meal. Through WFP, the average cost of providing a school lunch is only 25 cents,” she said, explaining this is offset by food donations.
FEED was born out of acclaimed model and activist Lauren Bush’s travels as an ambassador for the United Nations World Food Program. After witnessing firsthand the ravages of child hunger, she returned to the United States determined to make a difference and designed the FEED bag to benefit the WFP's School Feeding program.
“With the recession, people may not have a lot of money to give, but they do know they can support programs that do give back,” Wanserski said. “Conscientious consumerism is becoming a bigger issue in today’s society. People are becoming more conscious of how they give back.”
The school meal FEED provides may be the only meal that a child receives that day. But the goal is more ambitious than just providing food. FEED also aims to draw children into school and give them the education they need to have a future.
“So it is not just about hunger, it is breaking that cycle of hunger and starvation,” Wanserski said. “As we continue to grow, we will support organizations that do that and give food, but we are also looking for ways to change how our society breaks that cycle.”
After criticism that FEED was ignoring hunger in the United States, right in its own backyard, the charity expanded its programs to support Robin Hood, which provides meals to children in New York for 80 cents per child, and Donors Choose, which funds teachers’ dream projects. FEED NYC bags are its first venture in local markets but will not be its last.
“We are lucky to have been born here in the States, a land of opportunity, and not all children have that,” she declared. “It’s not just about a meal or stopping a child from starving. It is offering them a future.”
The charity, which turns five in February, has clearly found an approach that works. Since its inception, it has fed more than 60 million children, all with a team of just five full-time employees.
FEED attributes much of its success to its many partners, organizations that have stepped up to make a commitment not just to buying a bag for a season, but for the long haul. Clarins has pledged a two-year collaboration to feed at least one million kids. “(They) see it more as funding a solution than just selling a product,” Wanserski said.
The charity launched a program recently in Guatemala, in which craftspeople manufacture a bag made of traditional Guatemalan fabrics, completely handloomed and handsewn. The sale of one tote feeds three children in Guatemala for an entire year under UNICEF’s micronutrient program, which provides nutritional powder to underprivileged children to help them grow and stay healthy.
While the nonprofit regularly fields requests from volunteers looking to sell FEED products to raise funds, it currently only offers sales through approved retailers.
For those who want to lend a helping hand beyond purchasing FEED’s products, the charity’s website has a searchable database to find volunteer opportunities in soup kitchens, food banks, shelters and more in your local community.
“Everybody can do their part and that’s the big thing,” Wanserski said. “It doesn’t always require money. It is just time and a passion. And I think some of the leaders of tomorrow and solutions to the big issues we’re seeing will come out of a little idea that grows into a big solution. That’s how FEED started, with just one bag, and it fed 60 million kids.”
More than 900 million people worldwide will go to bed hungry tonight. By helping organizations such as FEED, you can make that number one less.
“We’re making a really cool product, stuff anybody can get behind, items that anybody would love. To have that give back component … it makes a great gift,” Wanserski said.
For more information, visit www.feedprojects.com.
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