One Million and One Meals

A Letter from Capt. Dave

Hi Dear Friends,

I hope this letter finds you doing well.

I want to share with you a story.

A few short weeks ago, a woman came to our church and spoke. Denise was an ordinary woman of retirement age who had a few years earlier left affluent Orange County and a good business and she moved to a place called South Sudan in Africa to help the English speaking people who live there. After her move, a new country was formed in 2011. This new country was hopeful after years of persecution that they would have peace. Instead, the result is considered by the U.N. to be the greatest humanitarian crisis the world has faced since the U.N. was formed.

I did not know how bad things were in these four African countries, as there has been little information in the news. According to the U.N. and the BBC, 20 million people may die if they are not given immediate assistance. She showed us photos of the camp she lives near in Northern Uganda where these desperate people are forced to flee their homes and cross the border, arriving with nothing. Children routinely die of hunger and are kidnapped, with terrible things done to them that I don’t want to describe to you. Many others are forced into the army. When she finished speaking, I knew I had to do something and my wife Gisele agreed. We spoke to Chris Marshal of Kids Around the World, who we have partnered with before, and offered him $10,000 to do a meal packing event. And with the need being so great we decided to make it a million meal packing.

Chris told us this meant we would need $300,000 and 4,000 people to pack the meals and four containers to ship the food to Kenya where it would then be trucked to Uganda. A big plan!  Our $10,000 and four bodies was only seed money and it felt very small in that moment. The three of us spoke to Denise and she wept with gratitude. We spoke to our pastor and he offered our church, right then, as one meal packing location and said he would do all he could to help. The soonest we felt we could accomplish this lofty goal was November 4th and 5th but everyone agreed it would be impossible to raise that much money and find so many volunteers in the short time we had. We considered delaying the event three months and nearly everyone agreed it was the only way, short of a miracle, we could reach our million meal goal. I asked Denise if our waiting meant that people would die. Her eyes teared up and she said: “Yes absolutely. They are dying now. Children are carrying other children into camp both of them starving and sometimes the child on their back is already dead.” Denise said not to be afraid, that she had seen the miraculous many times and told us, “When we can only accomplish something with God’s help, that gives Him room to work and show us what only He can truly do”. We all agreed the need was too great to delay, and we would set the date for November 4th and 5th and give Him room to work.

What happened next was a miracle.

Chris texted us the next day, and said he had gotten an offer from someone to give $100,000 in matching funds. He was not a rich man, but his wife, out of the blue, had a dream about starving children in Africa. The next day, they took half of their retirement money and gave it to us to save these children that she dreamed of. I spoke with another church in the area, and they were willing to pack meals and raise money. A friend donated $10,000 from his business, and the Dana Point Community center offered their location for free. Suddenly, we were half way there!

Does this sound exciting to you? Do you want to be part of this? We need to raise the rest of the money by October 11, 2017 to be able to purchase the food. Even the four shipping containers will be turned into buildings to be used as health clinics and teaching centers. Denise will film the arrival and distribution of this food for us all to see.

If you can donate, it is tax deductible. Click here to donate.

I know the world has many crisis, and thankfully, many people who are willing to help.

If you are in the area, and want to pack meals with us, please register here. We are still searching for two additional locations that are capable of hosting 250 to 500 people.

Thank you, and God Bless you and your families,

Capt. Dave