"A Mission That Means More"

FOR GENERAL EVENT INFORMATION/OVERVIEW, CLICK HERE.

Below is a letter I received from Feed My Starving Children and wanted to share with you all. It really is so much more than just food!

"Dear Friends,

In Haiti, being able to go to school is a special privilege. Many children who do go to school walk for hours to get there. Most arrive with empty stomachs.

Parents send their children to school to learn, but also because they know their child will get one nutritious meal each school day. Our partners tell us that if the meals weren't being served, the children would not come.

With your support, Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) meals can help students in nine separate mission schools get one meal a day while at school. We have requests for 2.3 million meals for Haitian students this school year.

We need your support to feed these Haitian children. Please prayerfully consider how you can help us produce and fund the meals these children so desperately need. This life-changing investment is just 17 cents per meal.

To make a secure online donation today, please visit our website. (For your donation to go toward the Dallas event, enter Event #1003-11 in the "Comments" section.)

Thank you for caring for children and students around the world, and providing life-saving meals to those children in Haiti. With God's continual help, we can answer the call to feed His starving children. It is a mission that means truly means more.

Quarters and Christmas Cards

Hey everyone, happy almost holidays!

Fundraising has started up in the past few weeks for FMSC and we are making great headway. Be a part of it!

Christmas Cards - Gift Alternative

One of the things that I have available are Christmas cards that can be given in place of a Christmas gift. Each card reads "Merry Christmas! In your honor I gave $__ to feed ___ of God's children, hungry in body and spirit." On the back is a Bible verse: "For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. -Jesus, Matthew 25:35".

A donation ($17 for 100 meals, $34 for 200, $85 for 500, any amount you choose at $.17/meal) is made either through me, through the FMSC website, through JustGive.org, or mailed directly to FMSC (be sure to put our event # on there, #1003-11). I will then supply you with the card to be given for Christmas. This is a truly lasting and meaningful Christmas present, I encourage you all to think about it!

M&M Tubes and Quarters

Another fundraiser is the M&M tubes to be filled with quarters. I'm sure some of you are familiar with these, as they were introduced by Ahren at the packing day last June. I have these M&M tubes for sale ($2 each or 2 for $3). Once you eat all the Mini M&Ms, one tube full of quarters is about $20. The change can then be mailed to FMSC, returned to me, or deposited and you can mail a check.

One person took a couple of these just last night and went home to see what she could find. This morning she let me know that just digging through a change jar, she filled 1 1/2 (about $30) without much effort at all. Most of us have this change sitting at home, and we're looking for something to do with it!

The M&M tubes are also a great way to get kids involved. They can ask friends, teachers, neighbors, Sunday School teachers, etc. for their spare quarters, and they may even get a chance to explain what it's for. Two of these containers would add up to the personal donation goal that I am challenging each volunteer to adopt this year.

Please let me know (fmscdallas@gmail.com) if you would like to be involved with the cards or the M&M tubes and I will get back with you to work out details. Thanks!

Advent Conspiracy

The first Christmas quite literally changed the world, forever. How many since then have done the same? Christmas is still almost three months away, but check out this video that's about a truly meaningful holiday season. Think about how this kind of Christmas could impact our packing day!

Advent Conspiracy

New Event Overview

Carrollton, TX

March 5-7, 2010

Last year we shot for 100,000 meals in two days to be sent all over the world,
helping to stop world hunger. We ended up completing 206,712! This year we will aim to do one whole container, which is 270,840 meals. Come be a part!

When: Friday March 5 - Sunday March 7. Exact shift information TBA.

Where: First United Methodist Church of Carrollton
2201 E. Hebron Pkwy., Carrollton, TX 75010

What to do: Volunteer, donate, or share!

Volunteer - Sign up for a two-hour shift
More info on this will be posted shortly.

Donate: 17 cents pays for an entire meal. $17=100 meals. $34=200 meals. $50=294 meals. $100=588 meals, or will feed one child for well over a year and a half.
To cover the cost of the meals we will pack in North Dallas, we will need just over $46,000.

To donate, either (1) email me for info (fmscdallas@gmail.com), (2) go here and be sure to put
"Mobile Packing Event #1003-11"
in the "Additional Information" section, or
(3) mail a check to

Feed My Starving Children
401 93rd Ave NW
Coon Rapids, MN 55433
memo line: Mobile Packing Event #1003-11


Share: Share with family, friends, church, school, or your company.
Send people to this site, email me to request fliers/literature,
or just tell people about it!


More information
This event is put on by Feed My Starving Children, which is in the midwest. To learn more about them, visit www.fmsc.org.

The food that we pack and send is a packet of rice, soy protein, dehydrated vegetables, and vitamin-fortified chicken flavoring that has been engineered by dieticians to be exactly what an undernourished child needs.

Each meal costs only 17 cents, so to cover the cost of the meals that we will be packing, we will need to raise about $46,000.

The food is distributed by FMSC to pre-existing, local organizations worldwide. They give to places such as clinics, refugee camps, missions organizations, etc. FMSC personally visits each distribution point to make sure that they are what they appear to be, and that the food is being used for its intended purpose.

Children/Youth are welcome! Packing meals is fun and high-energy but is feasible for anyone. Over 50% of the meals that FMSC sends out each year are packed by volunteers under the age of 18.

Look at a couple of the posts below to see information about and pictures of the last event we held in June, 2009!

Spring 2010 Meal-Packing Day!

Hi everybody, and thank you all so much again for your help this past June! And for your interest in being involved in our next event.

The next FMSC Mobile Packing Day will be March 5-7, 2010! Put it on your calendars, tell your friends, your coworkers, your family, your boss...

Our goal right now is to do an entire container of food, which is 270,840 meals. Last time we shot for 100,000, and because of certain circumstances, we were able to do over 206,000. However, we didn't have to raise all of the funds for all of the meals we packed last time, because we were ultimately just bailing out another group that ended up having to cancel. This time, we'll have to raise all of the funds ourselves. At 17 cents per meal, that is going to come to $46,042.80. Seems daunting, but it's not! I don't think it'll be a problem at all.

We're going to approach things slightly differently this time, since now so many of you know more about the event. Last time, with no FMSC history in Dallas, we had to just try to get as many people as possible to come check it out. This time, more of you already know and are excited about it, so we're going to have to ask for your help.

Each meal-packing volunteer will pack about $40 worth of food in a 2-hour shift, which is about 235 meals. I would love to challenge every volunteer to set a personal donation goal of $40. This way we can each say that we really provided about 235 children (per volunteer per shift) with a meal; not just by packing it, but also by providing the resources for it. This might seem like a lot, especially for families, but I'd challenge you to set the task to each individual volunteer, even (especially!) the kids. Look below for some fundraising ideas.

I would also appreciate any help you guys could give with spreading the word. Please let me know if you think your company, church, school, sports team, Scout Troop, or any other organization might be interested in getting involved, or might be able to send a donation. If you'd like donation information, I'd be happy to send it to you! Just ask.

Thank you all again, and let me know if you have any questions!

Abbey Daniels

Dallas FMSC event coordinator
fmscdallas@gmail.com

www.fmsc.org

GREAT WAYS TO RAISE YOUR DONATION:

1. MINI M&M TUBES: Many of you saw these at the event. If you can't get your hands on one or two of these, let me know and I can sell you some (with the M&Ms still inside). Eat the M&Ms, one tube full of quarters is $14, fill 3 tubes & you’ve raised $42!

2. PAY IN CASH: Pay for everything you can in cash for several weeks, keep the change in a jar, it adds up quickly!

3. SPONSORSHIPS: Ask friends, family, classmates & co-workers to sponsor you for this event with a per hour donation.

4. MATCHING FUNDS: Check to see if your company offers donation-matching or will sponsor employees per volunteer hour that they work.

5. HUNGER JAR or SPECIAL DONATION: Ask your church, class, club, office or any organization you’re involved in to take up a donation for FMSC. There are videos & fliers available to help you in making a presentation to your group.

6. SKIP THE SODA: When you eat out, drink water instead of soda & put the savings in your “donation jar”.

7. RICE FOR DINNER: Serve your family rice and beans for dinner one night & gain a better understanding of what a meal is like for many hungry families around the world. Put the money you saved on that meal toward your donation.

It's official...

The next FMSC Dallas Mobile Packing Day will be the first weekend in March, 2010 (3/5-6)!

Put it on your calendars, start thinking about who to invite and how to raise money, and get excited!

Pictures!

Pictures of the event are up at http://firstchurch.net/index_029.htm. Check them out and see if you made it into any!