Many students at Metea have visited Feed My Starving Children at least once. Every day, volunteers stand shoulder to shoulder around long tables, pouring rice, soy, dried vegetables, and vitamins into plastic bags. For many, it’s a simple volunteer shift, but for millions of hungry children around the world, it is a lifeline.
FMSC is a faith-based nonprofit with a simple but powerful goal: to feed the world’s most vulnerable people. Founded in 1987 in Minnesota, FMSC began with one meal formula and a mission rooted in compassion. Nearly four decades later, it has grown into an international operation that provides nutrition-packed meals to more than 70 countries every year.
A volunteer program supervisor at the Aurora site, Ethan Bryant, says that most of FMSC’s serviceability depends on donations and volunteers.
“We’re a volunteer-based organization,” Bryant said. “Most of our meals are hand-packed by volunteers, but we also rely on them for donations. About 97% of our annual funds come directly from those who pack with us.”
FMSC’s signature meal, MannaPack Rice, contains four essential ingredients: rice, dehydrated soy, dried veggies, and vitamins. The formula, developed decades ago with the help of food scientists and nutritionists, is carefully designed to combat malnutrition in growing children.
While the formula has remained largely unchanged, the sourcing behind it is a complex operation. Bryant explained that FMSC works with several U.S. vendors to acquire ingredients: six suppliers for rice, four for soy, and a vitamin mix produced by partner company Carlson-Carlson, a Minnesota-based co-packer. The vegetable component is sourced from China.
“We work very hard to maintain partner relationships with our vendors,” Bryant said. “They’re not just suppliers, they’re partners who share in our mission.”
Each FMSC site operates with about a month’s worth of ingredients in stock at any given time. Logistics teams forecast production goals and distribute supplies accordingly.
“We plan three to four weeks ahead,” Bryan said. “We have box goals to hit each month, and everything is measured carefully, down to how many 90-pound bags of rice we’ll need for a day of sessions.”
All of this is done under strict food safety standards. FMSC follows both OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and FSQA (Food Safety and Quality Assurance) guidelines, ensuring that every bag packed in Aurora, Schaumburg, or any of its sites meets rigorous quality and cleanliness expectations.
All of this to make sure each session is run like a well-oiled machine: bins refilled by staff, volunteers guided by upbeat team leaders, and every meal carefully sealed, boxed, and stacked. Every box is nourishment for a child who might otherwise go hungry.
Once the meals are packed, the next step is getting them to the people who need them most. Each year, an internal FMSC board meets to decide where the food will go. All FMSC meals are donated to partner organizations worldwide. However, those partners are responsible for covering the cost of shipping, which has become more expensive since COVID.
“Our partners pay these costs,” Bryant said. “We use trucking companies to move food domestically, and then our partners arrange the overseas transportation.”
FMSC proves that small actions, measured in scoops of rice and food planning spreadsheets, can change lives. From vendors and partners to volunteers of all ages, each person plays a small but vital role in something much bigger than themselves.