October 1, 2009 – Earlier this month, 15 students and five staff members from the Davenport Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) found out that a little bit goes a long way in terms of world hunger. Working with Kids Against Hunger – Your Quad Cities, the volunteers assembled 3,000 meals, most of which destined for Nicaragua or Honduras. A percentage of the meals also stayed in the area to help stock local food pantries in the Quad Cities area.

Each food packet contained a rice-soy casserole that, combined with boiling water, provided six servings. The protein and nutrient-rich formula helps reverse the starvation process.

“It made me feel good,” said Marcus, 16, one of the YEP students. “It made me feel like we all were really doing something to help out other people.”

Kids Against Hunger – Your Quad Cities was founded earlier this year as a local branch of a larger, national Kids Against Hunger program. The organization’s mission is to provide food to those less fortunate around the world, with a percentage of the meals going to under-served members of the local community as well.

“It’s a rather unique program in that we take raw ingredients – soy, rice, vegetables, 21 vitamins and minerals – and package them as meals ready to be shipped,” said John Kessler, president of Kids Against Hunger – Your Quad Cities. “Our first event was June 4 this year and to date we already have made over 33,000 meals.”

For the YEP students, the event provided a great opportunity to give back to their community while learning more about a pressing issue in the world at large.

“I could tell by their faces that many were hearing about world hunger for the first time,” Kessler said. “They were great and really showed how we have a very giving community down here in the Quad Cities.”

Jennifer Sweborg, Lead Facilitator of Quad Cities YEP, asked her students to put into words what the event meant to them.

“I had them write a journal entry about that day and what they felt they accomplished,” Sweborg said. “For most of them, helping starving children made them feel good. Whenever we have an opportunity for something new that will expose them to the community, we’ll do it, and they had a great time with this.”

Her students responded in kind, knowing that the few hours they spent that day could help change lives.

“When we put together the rice packets, I thought it was a positive thing,” Desmond, 16, said. “We were using our effort and time to save people in another country.”

 --David Dexter

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