Ep. 36 - Serving Those in Need with Food For The Poor

This is the FCB Podcast Network. This is Pillow Talk with Alie Michelle on the FCB Podcast Network. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Today's conversation is one I'm really looking forward to because we're talking about something that affects millions of people around the world, poverty, hunger, and actually and what it actually looks like to make a lasting difference. Joining me today is media coordinator Daniel Patino with Food for the Poor, one of the largest Christian humanitarian organizations in the United States. For more than twenty years, they've been working throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, providing not only food, but also homes, clean water, healthcare, education, and opportunities for families to become self sufficient. Thank you so much for joining me today. Allie, thank you for having me and as well as the folks of Food for the Poor, and then your audience, thank you for lending us your time as well. And I just want to thank everybody listening right now in the northeast Ohio region and everywhere online, and I just want to remind you you are the reason this works here at Food for the Poor. Right now, like you mentioned, Ali, there are children on across Latin America and the Caribbean who are waking up hungry. Yes, not just today, every single day, and you have the power to change that right here, right now. If you're sitting at home, watching on YouTube or listening on your everyday walk, well, you can make a difference right now. And that's why I'm here to ask you to help us to change those lives. Yeah, so I'd like to start with your story. What brought you, what brought you personally to Food for the Poor? You know, just give a little you know, dive into that. Right well, just to let you know, Food for the Poor is a Christian relief and development organization here in the US, and what they do best is give that little push to the families that right now, obviously are going through tough times. They live in extreme poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, fifteen countries where Food for the Poor serves, and in each country that we've seen that I've traveled to, it just takes that one little plate of food to jumpstart the change, to transformation, what we call it, the transformation in the lives of these families. And why not join a party like that? And I call it a little party because it's a good will party. It's a party where everyone is pushing and rowing the same way to help out these families who don't have a voice. They live, these families that we serve here food for the poor, they live three hours four hours away from any city help or any government safety net like the ones we have here in the States. Food pantry is a thing that they would wish they would have, Unfortunately they don't have access to. So who is the best person to step up? Well, is thy neighbor, right the good Samaritan or it's the folks that are listening to this right now and how can they help? They can log onto fcbfaith dot com click on that give food banner because that's what we're doing, and that, like I mentioned, is that that's the first step in the transformation for these families children as well. I have two children on my own here at home, and every time I travel, I see children just like that having to go to the local garbage dump to look for scraps of food, bruised food, or anything that's left from the city, as well as maybe plastics to sell for a chump of change, just for just a plate of food for that day, not for a whole week, or for a whole month, or to feed their whole family. It's just for that moment right there. So that's why I ask you to jump in, come on in transform those lives alongside Food for the Poor and FCB faith, because that's something that these mothers are praying for on a daily basis. We hear it from them and I have some testimonials to share with you throughout the program today. Just tell you what my heart gravitates to is to help out the family like Joelli, who I met at on Dura's. It's her four children and she takes care of her younger sister with down syndrome in a small shack in Pimiento on Duras. And I mean, why not give the shirt off our backs? Why not give the foods that we have usually in the vans when we travel with the team. It's that kind of need that these folks are are not only asking for, proparying for on a daily basis. Alison, I might get emotional during this as a mom. I just couldn't. Oh, I just can't. But when people hear the name, they probably just assume you just provide food but your mission is much bigger than that. Can you explain what all is involved? Well, we have ten focus areas and food, water, sanitation, empowerment. That's some of the few that we start off with. But like I mentioned to you, the food is that first plate. You can't do anything but think about food if you don't have it, if it's a luxury to you, not a necessity, like almost a luxury. And I mentioned luxury because folks that the families that we're helping, these families have to decide either to going back to mentioning children. They either have to decide which child they can feed today, or which one gets to eat tomorrow, or which one gets to go to school because they can't afford to get any of the school supplies or uniforms or things that they need to get in you know, their education started. So when you step into these families' lives with a small donation a big donation, it does transform these lives immediately. I've been a part of that journey. Like I mentioned to you, I've been a part of the journey of the gift as well. I've seen it come in from a donor and they also we ask you to share your story if you share your donation today, there is a small little box that we have here on the donation page and you can share your story. Why why is it that you're giving today? Not only just to help family, but we've heard stories of just like you Ali, you think about your own family and I can't see my own children having to go to a local garbage dump. Here is you know, eighty dollars to feed a child for an entire year. And that's the beauty of what your gift is doing. Eighty child. The one time gift of eighty dollars feeds a child for a full year. So that's three hundred and sixty five days of relief from a parent, shoulders, relief in a belly, from a child that has to endure just the hunger pangs and the every day of asking their parents. And we've heard that as well, Dad, when we get to eat? Mom? When are we going to get to eat? Or it's not what we get to eat, right, It's not like we're going to a Chick fil a or we're going to Burger King today or we're going to the local chicken shop. It's when are we going to eat today? So again, That's why I invite you Ali, all your audience and everybody listening around the world right now you can change that kind of life right now with a one time gift of eighty dollars that once again feeds a child for an entire year. And how can we do that? Well, uh, you know, we can log onto fcbfaith dot com click on that banner right there. You can also, I know we're always working around with our phones. You're watching us too, you know, right now on your cell or on your TV. Well, you can also text the word plate because that's what we're offering these families, right that one place, the one little plate to jump start the transformation in your lives. And you can text the word plate P l a t E to five one five five five. We'll send you a link food for the Poor. We'll send you a link. You can click on it at your leisure, at your own time, and you can make your gift to transform a life right there. Amen, Amen to that. So what's actually happening on the ground. I know you mentioned her name is Joe Ellie. Joe Ellie. Do you know you painted a little bit of that, but you know, can you explain what families are facing in the day, like you know, in a broader point you no, I know, it's not just Joe Ellie. So can you just maybe explain a little bit more what they're facing. So again, Food for the Poor has been around for forty four years now, going on forty five, and we've heard stories, we've seen stories, We've met families that are devastated by not one thing and another. It's just almost just life. We were all touched upon by COVID in a good way or a bad way. We've been through economic disasters, we've faced medical emergencies, but we all tend to back, you know, we're back on our feet within within minutes, almost within hours, maybe even days. But these families get hit with the same situations and it's devastating. They still haven't bounced back from any of the COVID breakdowns, and that was almost seven years ago, right. Families who have to survive on about two dollars a day. Specifically, like Joellie, she washes clothes for her neighbors. That's about you know that she'll probably make a couple of dollars a week. Something they'll turn into like two dollars a day for us here and it's not always guaranteed. So then that turns into one more thing to add to all the problems you have going out. So the fact that you can change a life just by providing a plate for a hungry child, for a family, I mean, it changes their aspect of and their outlook on life. It's one less thing you have to worry about. Now you can probably focus your attention on somewhere else. So going back to Joeli real quick. So with Joelli, when we met her, she does live in a small shack, something that you would think like would be only about two people can probably live in there comfortably. Well, she lives in there with her four children, and like I mentioned, she does take care of her younger sister with down syndrome, so she tries to do her best. And the moment that we arrived that day, she lives in a separate back home, back kind of room in the back of another home and her I guess she mentioned that it was her uncle that lived in the front. He was preparing a nice little plate of rice and I saw some plantains and I was like, all right, well that might feed a couple people, but there was more than what that bull can feed in that room. And I later mentioned to Joeli, I go, well, that that you know we're here to help you, and that's great that I saw that you guys were making food earlier for the children and the children were already asking. So I was like, Okay, good, look, they're gonna get a plate. She goes, no, that that's not enough for everyone, and that's only going to feed my uncle's children. I have to go fend for myself. And I also asked, you know, where's where's the the father figure or where's the husband, Where's where's the gentleman. He's like he's he's not present. So it's it's up to Joeli to fight day in and day out. And moms just like Joelli have the same story. And I also I pray for her every night. She's always in my heart. And I told her that straight to her face. I'm I, you know, working radio in the United States, and I'm gonna tell your story. You're gonna be famous. I tell her, you're gonna be famous. I'm telling your story everywhere. And the hope and the prayers that you've been given, you know, between you and guys on an every day basis, well, they're being answered. So again you can step into the lives of mothers just like Joelli by clicking the banner at fcbfaith dot com. You can also text the word plate to five one five five five. And there's millions of mothers just like Joelli that we recognize here at Food for the Poor, and that's what they're facing and that is their reality. So that's why I invite you once again to make that one time gift. It's a one time gift that's going to be blessings for three hundred and sixty five days. And you mentioned before we go to break you mentioned there's testimonies. Can we insert that here and you know, have everybody take a look at that. Of course, of course I want to also introduce you and I want you to hear this, and I want you to hear her voice when we come back. It's Beatrice, another mother and every single day she just pray for that one single thing, and it's one more day of food for her children. So that's not a prayer for wealth, that's not a prayer for comfort, which it sort of is that. That's a prayer for survival. And again there's there's countless mothers that we serve here food for the poor that are asking for the same thing. Oh, yes, prayers to them. I mean, you know you mentioned it wasn't a prayer for comfort, but I mean, let's pray for comfort and you know, the ability to just thrive in the best way that they can. Yeah, So we'll be uh, we'll be right back. Welcome back to the episode. I just want to jump right into beatrice story. So Daniel, I will let you take the. Floor and thank you Ali, And yes, I want to introduce you to Beatrice. Beatrice once again. It's a whether that we met over we're in country, and every single day she she prays for just one thing and that's one more day of food for her children. Cannah, can it be the. Praise that God help her to give them at least one more day of food. So it's a daily prayer. I think we can all just agree that Beatrice is hands down a superwoman, right, I mean, she's doing what she can. You'll be amazed how many superwoman's out there are. I mean, we all have a hero, right, we all have a hero in our lives. Let her be a mom and dad, a family member, a friend, and these mothers that we meet when we're in country. They're not short of that. They're like all one wrapped into one. It's amazing what they can do with the little that they have at the moments that before we reach them, now that before we noticed them, before we hear them, how do they do it every day? It's still something baffling to me. I've been with Food for the Poor for quat a while now, and I'm still having figured that part out. I just know that where we put our efforts, it's to help that next day, help the those next few days, those next few months in the future, to make that future look a little different than there yesterday. So what we heard there from Beatrice is nothing short of a prayer for daily bread. It's it's you know, it's very similar to that prayer for daily bread, but she is she's actually asking for something sort of like that, a next piece of bread, just to share with her children so their children don't have to face what is the daily asking of what? You know, what are we doing today? So that's why I'm inviting you Ali, your all of your guests, and your audience is won everybody listening around the world right now. Your eighty dollars gift, your one time eighty dollar gift answers that prayer for that one child. One hundred and sixty dollars that feeds too for an entire year. We keep going through one hundred and twenty that feeds four, and right now your gift is being doubled. I also wanted to share that with you. Your gift is being doubled in impact. So your eighty dollars is going to feed two children. Excuse me, it's going to feed a child for an entire years. Usually that's about six months. Right now, it's feeding them for an entire year. So we're, you know, coming alongside with a partner here at Food for the Poor that they're doubling your meals and impact. So it's that more impactful of what your gift can do. And it's immediate, and we've seen it, and I will be a part of this journey as well soon, so I would get to see your gift travel from wherever you are and your couture in your car or walking down the street or wherever you're consuming this and it gets to the doorstep of a family that really needs our help. And maybe I had prayed for a plate or two, and you've been that answer to those prayers, and I usually share that story with that. I'm like, this is from somebody in Northeast Ohio or around the world, you know that ended up listening to you and your prayers, and here is that help. And obviously you know it's received with open arms and smile from me to ear and and sometimes it's it's it's physically met with that. I pray for this yesterday. So can you get I guess, real raw and vulnerable, what has been the most heartbreaking thing you've actually witnessed. If you can just maybe single it down or maybe give like a couple examples. I won right away, run right away. I'm going to interrupt you. But as soon as you've mentioned that, it's it's always something that that does come in mind, how hunger really affects children. We're blessed not to see that here, we're blessed with as soon as the kiddos, I'm hungry, well we just had breakfast. I'm hungry again. Okay, Well, I guess you know, go in the pantry, get something else. And then that that hunger talk is it slowly dissipates with you know with actual food. Well, the families that we meet, we've seen these children get their healths affected in a major way because of malnutrition. And as you know, malnutrition weakens the immune system, it stunts growth, it damages that that cognitive development, right, and it affects their education. Kids at school go to bed, go wake up, hungry, go to school. They might have a small meal or two, but sometimes that's not guaranteed in some schools that we've seen that we've heard about, and it's tough for the for the child to advance in any way. Uh. And that's why I mentioned that school then becomes just a second thought because we need to eat first, we need to get our health back in order. So when the child can only folks can't focus on anything but food. That just the nutrition alone, it's setting them back in life. So for most of all, it does affect their hope as well. They stop believing that tomorrow will be better, they stop dreaming. Uh. And and that's the that's the greatest heartbreak of all because of just because of a plate of food and where they were born and the situations that they just have to endure and ask children they don't know they don't know what's going on, and it's just that's a heartbreak on mom and dad or just sometimes just one single parent working at it alone. And that's why, you know, Food for the Poor reaches to those families that are hours away from any government help, any government safety nets, hours away from any help that you would consider something along the lines of a food pantry or a food bank. There's nothing like that, and you are their hope. And that's why, once again, Food for the Poor serves in these fifteen countries where extreme poverty is a daily and we work with folks on the ground. That's one thing I want to mention to you, alliant, to your audience that Food for the Poor for forty four years has been working with trusted partners in these countries. So not only are we also sending help, we're stimulating the economy. So your donation then becomes a job opportunity for a farmer to grow vegetables, to grow all the stuff. That then turns into a little bit of money for the family, and then that family then turns that into just a daily bread, I know, a daily meal for their children, for their families. So you are creating that cycle. You're creating this just a different world for these families. You're breaking that cycle of poverty, and you truly are transforming lives. And again I've seen it, and it just breaks my heart when I know that there's just one more family to help, so and that always happens. We help the family right here, like Joeli, like Beatrice, and then we meet the neighbor. Then we meet the neighbor down the street. Then we meet the community. And Food for the Poor also helps that length. We've helped in communities transform communities of families of more than sixty five families living in a Food for the Poor community, and those lives. You would love to see them, and I can share that with you, I can share that with your audience. We have that. And again, these are families that we're in that same situation, like Beatrice, like Joellie, and then we bring them in, we bring them in the hope of Food for the Poor, and we tell them that's it, that that life is behind you. Now, let's work on tomorrow. Let's work on better in yourself. And folks, they start standing up straight, the smiles are bigger, that you can hear the noise of children playing. That's one more thing, What's one more thing I want to bring up to you before we move here. I've been to communities where it's quiet m hm, silence, just like that, where it's you were like, but I see children, but I don't hear anybody. Well, ally, it's kind of hard to do anything if hunger. It's the first roadblock on an everyday basis, right, Oh my goodness. And how how do the parents cope with trying to provide for their children. I think about Hosse. I think about Hose. When I met in Guatemalo, he told me he was a failure, and I scrunch my face up, I make a stank face because it's it's it's it's it's not his fault. He is doing his best as well. The job that he currently had was he was a palm tree farmer, but his work was more a little further from where his home is, so he has to take transportation sometimes a bus and a taxi to get to where he works, and if it rains, they don't work. So the fact that when we met Jose that day, he was at home and he explained to me he goes he started raining where we were working today and I couldn't go, and if I don't go, I don't make money. And I haven't been there for a couple of days already, so he felt He's like, I feel like a failure because I haven't to go to I have nothing else to do. And obviously I stopped him in his tracks. I'm like, you're not a family, from father to father, from baron to parent. And trust me, all the folks listening at home, you are not a failure, but it you know, obviously it's it's a lot tougher to shake. But those are the lives that you're transformed right now, folks, Those are those are families that are asking for not only a hand up, you know, not a handout, but a hand up. Really, it's it's to better themselves, to better their family, to better their outcome, so the generations don't have to endure the same thing. It's it's waking up to nothing. It's mothers having to explain to their children, you know, we can only eat once we find work, and when food for the poor lands at their doorstep. I mean, you can see shoulders kind of, it's like a you hear a deep breath. It's a collective deep breath, and for forty four years, Food for the Poor has done that impact. And again, Ali, I don't mean to break you down, but this is the impact that your donors and your audience can do right now. So again, one time gift of eighty dollars feeds two children, excuse me, feeds ah child for three hundred and sixty five days, two children from one hundred and sixty and the math keeps going there. But your one time impact is three hundred and sixty five days of relief for a family that they're normal, is not our normal, and it let's let's it's up to us to tell them this. It's not okay to live like this, and this is why we're here. I'm gonna grab a tissue and we're gonna get on breaks. I can grab that tissue, So we're gonna go on break right now. Uh. You mentioned during the break we got into match and how I how I'm understanding as you're saying, if one person donates, then it can be doubled by another. Correct or, can you. Say, yeah, of course, Well it's sort of long lines of that. Yeah, we have a matching partner here at Food for the Poor that is coming alongside uh everyone here at FCB Faith. So your one time gift of eighty dollars not only feeds a child for six months, is going to feed him for an entire year. So that's that's why I mentioned three hundred and sixty five days that a person like Joelli, like Beatrice and her children don't have to ask every day where am I getting my next meal? Or do we have to go to the garbage stump to get scraps from there? Or do we have to go to the garbage stump to get plastic bottles for the children to go ahead and sell? And I say children because I've seen it myself. Danny in Hondura, she should have been in seventh grade by now, but the day that we met her, she wasn't able to be in school because I mentioned before, school sometimes is a luxury. They either can either feed or have some money leftovers send the children to school. And some of the households that we visit there's more than one child, so sometimes maybe big sister can go and little sister has to stay behind, or the vice versa. So what we do is we tell the folks like Joelli. We tell the folks like Beatrice or like Danny, here's one plate of food for you today, tomorrow, the next day, the next month, all through the summer, all through the fall, all through the winter, back again in spring, all the way to summer, and then it it. You kind of see like, okay, wow, I didn't I wasn't able to think that far ahead. So the met when I mentioned the match earlier is because your impact is doubled. And this is again you know, this is only going to last till July thirtieth, so your impact can be immediate. It can be right now. And we invite you to go to fcbfaith dot com, click on that Food for the Poor and give food banner. You'll say that beautiful little girl there those are children that we're serving at Food for the Poor. Oh, you can text plate the word plate. That's what we're providing for these families. A plate, a food plate, p L A T E to five one five five five. Food for the Poor will send you your link to make your secure donation, and alliott takes less than two minutes. I mean, if you know, I understand there's uh, you know, if I'm in the car listening, I know there's traffic in front of me. The kids are fighting in the back. I got you know, maybe dinner or what's going on you later on in the kitchen coming up. But leave a little space for the mothers that we're serving, live, a little space for the children that we're serving here at Food for the Poor alongside FCB Faith And again, one time gift of eighty dollars feeds a child for an entire year. A one time gift of one sixty that's going to feed two for an entire year. And we invite you to share your comments, share why you gave, not just because you want to feed a child. But sometimes we'll hear stories of I thought about my own children, or I've heard you know, grandmas and grandpa's share their story. You know, I have four five nieces. I can't imagine mothers going through the same situation. And this is why I'm giving, and we thank you. If you've given already, thank you. You are making an impact right away. And if you're still thinking about it, well, Ali, we invite you to invite them as well to come make an impact immediately. So once again, how do we give you? Go to fcbfaith dot com, click on that Food for the poor banner will take you right straight to a quick donation page, which is again two minutes, less than two minutes to make your gift that makes an impact for three hundred and sixty five days. Or you text plate to five one five five five and we'll send you a link to. Gift you mentioned. The campaign ends July thirtieth. Why what happens if people don't act before. Then a mother doesn't get to tell her children that you know we were you know we're not going to be able to eat tomorrow. You know, it's it's plain and simple. I'm I'm not going to tell you that's any different. It's we're not going to be able to feed that one more child. And there's always always one more child when Food for the Poor knocks on the door, when Food for the Poor talks to our trusted partners and they tell us, look, we've identified another family, we've identified another child that needs our help. But if you don't act, then your impact is not as strong as was before. And now I'm not saying we're not going to accept your donation please, I'm not saying that it's always welcome, but right now we're offering you the chance to feed that child for an entire year with just a one time gift and eighty dollars is you know nowadays it's a pizza night, right, it's you know, probably half a meal at Chili's for half of your family, and that's for that one night. And obviously, yeah, it makes us feel good. You know, we've earned that meal, We've earned that time to get. But that's the blessings that we have here in the States. That's the blessings that you have here at home or you listening wherever you are consuming this. Those are the blessings that we get to count. Either we recognize them or we don't. We are blessed with that, but the families that Food for the Poor serves don't have that. And to tell them, sorry, you know, we you know, the July thirtieth came around and nothing happened. I'm you know, it's heartbreaking and obviously we don't share that. But what we tell you at home is we have an opportunity here Food for the Poor with the donor that understands those heats, that understands that the families that we serve here at Food for the Poor in the fifteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are brought upon with the power from the folks from FCB, faith, the faithful listeners, and why not you know, join alongside of food for the poor at this right moment where we can make an impact just as strong as we would do it anywhere else. But you're doing it here with the matching donor that's going to be able to feed that child for more than just one day, more than just a couple of days. Like I mentioned, it's it's a year worth of food for a child and a family. Amen to that. So you talked, can we jump into hope or was there another testimony we wanted to add? Yeah, actually I wanted to share some again. So you asking why why don't you know what happens if people don't act well, Yes, that match does go away. The opportunity to double your imp is gone. But that means that just fewer children get to feed or excuse me, are able to get fed, fewer families get help. But I want you to listen to this. I want you to really listen, not with your ear, but listen with your heart and why this matters? And this is a mother from Haiti that she has nothing, absolutely nothing. When we met her, and she mentioned so that that she boils rocks in a pot to trick her children into falling asleep. I know, we love to say that he Stian people are resilient, and it's a quality that we praise so much, but it's just how much resilience can the same people put up with. And no child should ever know hunger, misery, pain. I see children crying. I hear moms telling me the God they put their kids at bed at night crying because they're hungry. I've had a mom tell me that she boiled rocks because that gave her children hope that there was something on the store when there was nothing there. Well that's yeah, yeah, yeah, so that's heavy. So but let's can we get into hope we've talked to them. Of course, I mean, as you mentioned there, I mean it speaks for itself. A mother has to trick her children because that's kind of like her last resort, right and boiling rocks, although she's not feeding her children rocks, but she makes it sound like there's food coming, and she tells them, you know, to go to sleep, go to sleep for a little bit. I'll wake you guys up when you know when dinner's ready or food's ready, and she's trying to trick her children to believe in there is something to eat, and that's not a life. And Ellie, I know you understand that. I understand that as a parent myself, that is not a life. That is just survival, okay, And you know I always make a pledge here at food with port and old mother should ever have to do that, but it's happening. That's the reality of what these families live through on a daily in the country's Food for the Poor serves in so your gift will change that story. Your gift changees that story, folks, and only if you act now so again, go to fcbfaith dot com. Click I'm at Food for the Poor banner. You will see the pretty little girl there waiting for you, and make your donation right now. One time gift of eighty dollars is going to feed a child for an entire year. Or you can text plate P L A T E to five one five five five and we'll send you a link to give there. And as well, it takes less than two minutes to transform a life just like these resilient Haitian moms that we've met when we're in country, and obviously this is your chance to tell us no mother should ever have to boil rocks to churk a children, or boil leaves and add it just a little bit of seasoning and call it call it a meal. That's that's not a meal. So again we invite you come on in be a part of Food for the Poor and what we're doing, and don't wage. July thirtieth is almost around the corner, so you can text plate once again to five one five five five. You can visit fcbfaith dot com click on that Food for the Poor banner and every gift right now is being doubled an impact. Every child matters, as you well know, and you can make a difference right now. Yes, and I'm going to add before we go to break that a lot of Americans we are oblivious. If we don't see it, we don't hear it, it doesn't exist. But I think what we're doing on the show and what you have been dedicating your life towards, I think will bring a lot more awareness for Americans to see that this is actually somebody's life. So thank you for doing this. And we'll came right back and welcome back from the break. So, Daniel, has there ever been a moment where you thought, yeah, this is exactly why I do what I do and what we do. Well. Again, when when folks that are listening to us right now have listened to the call, when they click on fcbfaith dot com, uh, and they click on that food for the Poor banner, or they text plate to five one five five five and make that donation. Uh. It hope looks like this. And I want you to hear from this mom that we met in Guatemala, not. Miss every Hons. Not before I didn't have rice, I didn't have beans, I couldn't give my children anything. And since they opened the door of the center, I now have food at my table. And I am not crying out of sadness. I am crying because I'm so thankful and happy. So when it when it feels overwhelming, that's quite what gives you that own right her her resilience. And of course I mean Ali, this is a this is a mom that we met Maria Marabell from Guatemala. She wept with joy. These aren't tiers of what's going on now? What do I do, where should I go? These are tears of joy, which are very rare in some of these parts, and not because she received something extraordinary. Was It wasn't a car, or a house or a million dollars right that you and I would probably cry tears of joy for that. She wept with joy because she finally felt hope, because for the first time in a long time, she believed that tomorrow would be better. And that's what your gift does. It doesn't just fill the stomach. It restores that dignity. It gives a mother the ability to look at her children and say, tomorrow will be better. And that's hope right there. And again, you could be that reason someone weeps with joy today, tomorrow, and for three hundred and sixty five days because again matching portner here, Food for the Poor is coming alongside you and helping these children out for an entire year. So one time gift of eighty dollars feeds a child for an entire year, and your gift is being doubled in impact. So that's why we're inviting you right now to come give today and help mothers just like Maria Morabel continue crying those weeks of joy because they know that tomorrow is going to be way better than today. Amen. Amen, so you said, so listen, I am. I'm going to text this is plate right like I've been waiting so long to do that, because i do want to do a donation so everyone can see, like you know, I'm moved. I'm totally moved by this entire organization and what you guys stand for. It's it's very, very very beautiful. Thank you. So if they're uh so, what can somebody do right now to make the difference. Again, just click on that banner fcbfaith dot com, click on that Food for the Poor banner, and once again, it's going to take you less than two minutes to transform a life for an entire year. Your one time gift is that blessing? Is that prayer for a mom? Is that answered prayer for a child that doesn't probably doesn't understand why this is going on. They just understand that mom and dad have whatever they can to feed them. So we think of families who went from rationing one meal to sitting together and eating, Families who were surviving on just boiling rocks or leaves or just boiling water and adding some you know, seasoning to it and calling a meal. That's it. That's enough. Families who had no hope now are believing in a future, and that's key. And I'm a father of two myself, like I mentioned to you, and I think of a father who again told us he was a failure because he couldn't provide, and then after receiving that help, he looked at his children and said, now you know, I feel like a father to you. I like a true father. That's because your mind, it's just you know, as fathers are else were called upon too to provide, to protect the house, protect the castle, and now they can. And that's transformation, folks, that's the transformation you are are just doing. With a click of a mouse, with a click of your finger on the phone, with the two minutes that you spend going through that donation page and making your gift, you're transforming those kind of lives. And that's where we're working towards. And that's why you can be part of that story. And that's why Ali, you and your audience, we invite you here at Food for the Poor to come see that transformation and to make that one time gift last for not only those three or six, you know, three hundred and sixty five days. But alongside Food for the Poor, it can be a lasting impact for quite a while. And how much it's very powerful, So please excuse me as I try to grab myself. But how so, how much of the donation actually goes to the families. So Food for the Poor again has been around for four four years. And how we make it happen is because you know, there is some overhead. Folks work here at Food for the Poor, but we don't ask for much. The last report it was about ninety two percent of our donations that come to Food for the Poor go to the families that we're serving. And I love working alongside Food for the Poor. For that matter, our CEO is not driving up in his latest sports car. You know, there aren't folks here that live in the tower highest to the castle. You know, there's none of that. All our efforts are going towards those families are going towards projects like I mentioned, Food for the Poor is is it's almost the name is a misnomer because food is part of our name. And that is the first step, that is the first step to transformation. But there is ten focus areas that we have at here at Food for the Poor, and that first one is food, then it's water, that it's empowerment, education. We also think about the ones that are underserved, folks that you know are born with disabilities and born in these countries. We serve those folks too, and there's projects like that at Food for the Poor. So if you think you can do a lot more than that, please we invite you. The doors open, you can come in and transform those lives immediately. But what we're asking right now from your family, from your friends, the folks listening here, go to Food for the go FCB faith dot com, click on the Food for the Poor banner and transform a life right now, or you taxt plate to five one five five five and you can make a difference right now. And you're providing that hope for a family that's fighting every single day. So what is your final message to our listeners. Well, first of all, thank you for having me and to have a Food for the Poor and everybody here that fights the good fight, thank you, thank you for having us. And it's simple, give, my honor, give, just give once again. Eighty dollars feed the child for an entire year, one sixty feets two three hundred and twenty that feeds four and right now your gift is being doubled through July thirtieth, and we don't have a lot of time that that match expires soon. So every person is listening right now, or everyone who's just who've given those eighty dollars that can feed a lot more than one child. That's going to feed that thousands of children we're you know, going for And that's not a dream. This is real and that's possible. We've seen it happen. So here's what you gotta do once again. Go to fcbfaith dot com, click on that Food for the Poor banner, or you can text plate to five one five five five. It's that simple. Give now and don't wait. Thank you so much for being here. Brought me to tears, and I hope we can see you again. But yes, thank you so much for being here. Aali, Thank you, Thank you your audience, everyone listening, and thank you for your time. This is Ali Michelle. Imagine waking up Hungary not just one day, but every day. For millions of children across Latin America and the Caribbean, this is their daily reality. Empty stomachs, no strength to learn, play, or even hope. But you can change that story and right now. Thanks to a generous matching partner at Food for the Poor, every gift is doubled up to three thousand dollars through July thirtieth. That means your eighty dollars gift feeds one child for an entire year. Give one hundred and sixty dollars and you feed two. Three hundred and twenty dollars feeds four. The memp is simple, the impact is eternal. Food for the Poor is a Christian ministry bringing food and hope to children in desperate need. Your generosity delivers more than just a mule. It delivers dignity and a future. But this match expires July thirtieth. Visit fcbfaith dot com and click the Food for the Poor banner to give your best. Your gift is doubled to feed more children, be the answer to their prayer today. Click the Food for the Poor banner at fcbfaith dot com