CityView Magazine

54 | October 2017 G I V I N G L ove is so easily communicated through food. Grandma's chocolate chip cookies. Mom's chicken and dumplings. A sweet treat taken to a teacher. All give a warm, fuzzy feeling to the recipient. Imagine then the impact of a filling, nutritious meal on people who'd been unsure they would even have anything to eat that day. at's something that members and other volunteers at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Fayetteville have been able to envision for the past seven years. Since 2010, the church has packaged over 750,000 meals of rice, soy protein, dried vegetables and vitamins for Rise Against Hunger, an international hunger relief organization that distributes food and aid to needy people in developing countries around the world. And it's gearing up for another packaging session on October 28. e packing sessions "remind us we are blessed and privileged," said Mick Noland, a member of First Presbyterian's Witness Committee, which oversees the church's mission work. "We wake up called to be appreciative of what (we) have and try to give back," he said. Many churches in the area and around the country pack meals for Rise Against Hunger, previously known as Stop Hunger Now. e Raleigh-based organization salutes them all as Hunger Champions and partners in its mission to end worldwide hunger by 2030. But First Presbyterian is by far the organization's largest partner in this area, said Maddie Laing, a spokeswoman for Rise Against Hunger. Noland said the church shares the organization's view that just because many of the world's neediest are out of our sight, they should not be out of our minds. Chronic hunger is deadly. Every 3.6 seconds, one person – usually a child – dies of starvation, according to UNICEF, the United Nations agency that provides aid to mothers and children in developing countries. About 842 million people are estimated to suffer from hunger and 98 percent of them are in developing countries. Rise Against Hunger not only provides meals in such areas, it works to help people in those areas develop sustainable business and agricultural practices so they can Soybeans and Scales On track for one million meals BY JANELOVESLOC AL

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