Children’s Hunger Fund shows how children can deliver hope to suffering children through gospel-centered mercy ministry. From praying for families who receive Food Paks, to getting informed through Poverty Encounter, volunteering at Distribution Centers, and participating in Project Coin Pak and Project Food Pak, kids can play a powerful role in serving children in need while learning to live out their faith.
April is Volunteer Appreciation Month, and Children’s Hunger Fund is celebrating more than 400,000 volunteers who have spent the past 30 years delivering hope to suffering children through gospel-centered mercy ministry. In “11 Reasons to Volunteer at Children’s Hunger Fund,” volunteers share how packing Food Paks becomes an opportunity for kids to volunteer, encourages empathy, builds fellowship and team-building, and models Christ-like service for the next generation. From refreshing your soul to knowing exactly what was accomplished, volunteering at Children’s Hunger Fund is a fun and meaningful way to make a difference.
At Children’s Hunger Fund’s Sylmar Distribution Center, three generations of hope come together in the Wentz Volunteer Center as the Peters family builds Meal Paks for suffering children. From grandparents to grandkids, Tyson, Caleb, Dayne, and their parents and grandparents volunteer regularly, packing boxes, bonding as a family, and partnering with CHF to deliver food and the gospel to children in need.
Lupe Gomez’s story in The Circle of Hope shows how a simple can of corn in an elementary school food drive came back to him as boxes of food, planting a seed of hope that now motivates him to volunteer weekly at Children’s Hunger Fund alongside his wife, Julie, and soon their grandkids and employees. Remembering that “hope—it’s everything,” Lupe now sees that the heavenly Father was looking out for his family, and he joyfully joins CHF in sharing that same gift of food, peace, and care with other children in need.
Charitable giving is important because God expects His people to give generously in every season of life, whether we are college students, high schoolers, burdened with debts, or comfortably middle class. At Children’s Hunger Fund, we view giving as an act of worship and stewardship that reflects our dependence on God, provides for the work of the church, and cares for those impacted by poverty, including vulnerable children and families in need. When you give, every gift—large or small—helps supply food and hope through Food Paks delivered by trained pastors and volunteers, turning simple offerings into an expression of God’s mercy across the US and around the world.
Serving others truly inspires families like the Kims, and at Children’s Hunger Fund we see that impact every time they come to our Sylmar Distribution Center to volunteer. Month after month, their children joyfully scoop beans, seal bags, and carry Food Paks to the finish pile, learning integrity, perseverance, and commitment as they serve other children just like them. For Mrs. Kim, CHF has become her “happy” place—a few hours where her family can forget their own concerns, rest and recharge, and do good work unto the Lord together. As they discovered, serving others not only blesses vulnerable children, it blesses their own family as well.