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Volunteers gather to Feed My Starving Children
National board member and chairman of the Chicago Advisory Council for FMSC Dawn Eber of Aurora and Chicago Advisory Council member Joe Mangi of Arlington Heights. | Lee Litas~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: May 31, 2012 1:08PM
The Event: Mosaic was more than just the name of the ensemble entertaining during the Feed My Starving Children gala on April 20; it was an apt description of the nearly 80,000 children in 70 countries that FMSC currently feeds through missionary partnerships with orphanages, refugee camps and malnourishment centers.
The fourth annual benefit was the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work by FMSC, and more than 650 volunteers and supporters came out to celebrate the effort.
Cause Célèbre: “It doesn’t hit home until (people) see the numbers and the pictures of the children,” said Chicago Advisory Council member Joe Mangi. “These are people from all walks of life and they come away with such a good feeling about what they’ve done.”
Through a two-hour event called a “packing session,” volunteers put together nutritious, complete meals that FMSC then sends to children who need them most all over the world — from countries affected by natural disasters to places enduring economic despair — including within the United States.
“FMSC is a very powerful community development organization that brings disparate groups (like) corporations, schools and churches together,” said Chris Thompson, national development director.
FMSC currently has a volunteer staff of approximately 31,000 and operates a part-time facility in
Schaumburg. It hopes to open it full-time and double those numbers in the next phase.
“(This event) is going to kick off the public phase of our campaign and hopefully allow us to open a third site in Chicago to feed more kids and allow more volunteers to have their lives impacted through packing,” said Dawn Eber, national board member and chairwoman of the Chicago Advisory Council.
Bottom Line: The gala event raised approximately $308,600 through general donations, and live and silent auctions for a total of $828,600 raised toward FMSC’s $1.55 million goal.
For more information, visit fmsc.org or call (847) 519-9614.
