Community Corner

Feed My Starving Children Impacting Lives

St. Mary Catholic Church volunteers lend a hand at the Schaumburg based charity.

, in Huntley, volunteers spent the summer helping to feed children, a mission Feed My Starving Children has been spearheading for 25 years.

Feed My Starving Children is the fastest-growing charity with a super high rating from Charity Navigator. The charity spends 93 cents of every dollar received on feeding the hungry, Development Adviser Marilyn Maurella said.

The Schaumburg office, which hosted St. Mary volunteers this summer, just celebrated its first anniversary in July. Capacity is 60 volunteers in the Schaumburg location, and the organization is always booked, she said.

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Maurella said there is a waiting list of up to six months for a weekend shift. The Schaumburg office has two shifts every weekday evening and five shifts on the weekend. Each shift is two hours.

“It’s a very high demand,” Maurella said of the volunteer list. “If we had the funding for the raw ingredients, we would open Schaumburg during the day.”

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An Aurora office is open during the day and local groups have to travel there to volunteer for a day shift, she said. Maurella hopes eventually to have a daytime shift.

“The beautiful thing is we don’t advertise at all, it’s all word of mouth,” Maurella said. “When people leave enthusiastic, what better advertising?”

Feed My Starving Children affects volunteers as well as those receiving food from the organization.

Parents, too, are touched by volunteering and often give donations to the organization after their children visit. One man told Maurella that he and his son had come to volunteer but his son was not happy about it. The two had not talked for three months.

“When they got home, they talked for three hours,” Maurella said, her voice cracking with emotion as she recalled the story. “It really nourishes the spirits of the volunteers.”


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