Nutritious Meals for Children
Thanks to your generous support, hungry children are receiving nutritious meals that help them grow, stay in school, and thrive without worrying about their next meal.
Equipping Families to Thrive
Malnutrition robs children’s futures
Children who are poorly nourished suffer illness, miss school, or attend classes hungry. For millions of children around the world, the meal they get at school is the only meal they get in a day. Without school feeding programs, kids go hungry, get sick, drop out of school, and lose their best chance of escaping poverty. Approximately 149 million children under five are physically stunted due to malnutrition and lack of access to healthy meals.
However, Samaritan’s Purse and generous donors like you are responding in Jesus’ Name by providing hot meals at school, nutrition education, and basic gardening and animal husbandry skills to students to secure their health and bring hope back to their families. Your support gives a child the opportunity to grow, play, thrive, and live a healthy and full life.
Full hearts and full bellies
Nutritious Meals Save Lives
Food Program initiatives that focus on child health break the poverty cycle and give hope to entire communities. We provide nutritious meals at schools, education on nutrition, and basic gardening and animal husbandry skills to students so that their health is secured, school attendance is maintained, futures are brighter, and lessons learned at school will be brought back home to their families.
As bellies are filled with healthy meals, doors open to teach children that God is the Greatest Farmer and cares for their whole needs, including lives, livelihoods, and land.
- In many regions around the world, we operate school feeding programs to help students facing malnutrition.
- Food served at schools may be procured locally, sourced from Canada, or a combination of both.
- Our school nutrition initiatives also typically include on-site gardens, poultry raising, and Bible lessons.
- Children are taught about God as the Greatest Farmer; using agricultural metaphors, we teach Gospel truths.
Hope in the Heart of Hunger
Sharing the Bread of Life with Hungry Children
When Avani* talks about hunger, her brown eyes fill with tears. The 11-year-old knows what it’s like to be too dizzy to focus on schoolwork. Too weak to play chase. Too anxious about her next meal to be happy and carefree.
“I have a headache when I don’t have food, and my belly hurts.” Avani is very small for her age. It’s a lifelong consequence of facing the relentlessness of hunger, day in and day out, while growing up.
But today is different. At school, Avani is delighted with a bowlful of hearty lunch thanks to friends like you who have shared generously in Jesus’ Name.
This critical food aid is supplemented by oil, spices, rice, and other grains purchased from local markets. It’s then delivered to communities where schools and churches provide meal programs for children suffering from hunger.
In one south Asian country, 810 elementary-aged children—many of whom eat once every 24 hours—are now receiving regular lunches. For Avani, the gift of a steaming, fragrant dish of food is a powerful expression of God’s love in her life. “I was so happy when I found out I would get a lunch!” she said with a smile. “When my belly is full of food, I don’t feel any pain. It feels good to know I am loved,” said Avani.
Her teacher described how students used to falter throughout each school day. Many would be unable to return for afternoon classes because they were too tired from hunger. “Previously, 50 percent of kids would be absent, but now they all attend. Because of the meal, I think the children will pass their exams,” he shared. “I want them to have a better future.”
*Name changed for privacy
Food Projects Impact in 2025
Food security, livelihoods, and agriculture training in action
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People provided with food assistance.
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Children provided with school meals.
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People trained on nutritional practices.
Why Food Projects Matter
Join us in empowering families with nutrition and income
Hot, Nutritious Meals
Our feeding programs provide warm lunches to schools for children, to communities for vulnerable people, to mission hospitals for recovering patients, and to prisons for inmates. For families in need, a school meal is an incentive to send their children to not only get a meal, but also an education. These long-term provisions of meals have a ripple effect on physical, social, and mental health and lead to Gospel opportunities.
The Gospel in Action
When hot meals are delivered into the hands of a hungry child, it becomes a tangible expression of God’s love for them. With each meal, children are taught that God sees them, loves them, and has provided a way to end their hunger. Each day becomes another opportunity for ministry, discipleship, and spiritual growth.
The Gospel in Action
A nutritious meal is only the beginning. As God brings health to families, He also gives the opportunity to share the Gospel.
Throughout agriculture training, families are taught about God as the greatest farmer who created and cultivated the earth and cares for us. During follow-up visits, our teams have the opportunity to pray for families or share more about Jesus Christ and sow more Gospel seeds.
Food Projects
Help families grow food, strengthen livelihoods, and build more secure futures.
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