March is National Nutrition Month, and Unity 4 Orphans is highlighting how children living in extreme poverty are being impacted by our Nutrition 4 Change program.
The global impact of malnutrition is so high that an estimated 45 million children under 5 years old experience hunger daily. For families facing extreme poverty, finding proper nutrition is a constant struggle, one which affects all areas of life and perpetuates the cycle from one generation to the next.
Nutrition is Key to Raising Poor Families Out of Extreme Poverty
Food insecurity creates a nonstop cycle of lack, preventing children from receiving an education and creating a scarcity mindset that keeps families from functioning properly and staying together. When parents are on a constant search for the next meal to feed their children it’s easy for despair to take hold.
Helping our partners who run feeding programs like the ones in Nicaragua is such a good return on our investment. It costs us less than 20 cents a day to feed each child. We believe God has equipped Keysi and her team for such a time as this.
–Caitlin Snyder, U4O Engagement Director
We’re privileged to be able to join hands with amazing volunteers and our impact varies by country. Our partners are stepping in with the knowledge that feeding children and their families relieves pressure on parents and helps children pursue an education to be able to lift themselves out of poverty one day.
Feeding Programs Provide Meals to Severely Malnourished Children
We shared how Nutrition 4 Change is helping through our partners in Nicaragua in our end-of-year series, and are positioned to feed even more children in 2024. The need is great, and the number of children who come in search of regular meals grows exponentially as word spreads amongst the country’s poorest neighborhoods, where families often live in and around garbage dumps.
These children are so malnourished, they lack the ability and energy to think clearly. We want to ensure that they have at least one plate of food every day to help them grow. Without proper nutrition, they’re unable to learn and keep up in school.
–Keysi M., Nicaragua Partner, Jesus is the Way
Some of the children who arrive to be fed are in dire need of basic medical care to rid their bodies of parasites and build up iron, a nutrient severely lacking in most of their diets. Without meeting these basic needs the children cannot learn, and even at higher grade levels, many are unable to read and have parents who were never taught themselves. This suffering and uncertainty dictate how they allot what little energy they have as they spend inordinate amounts of time in search of their next meal.
Join U4O in Combatting Food Insecurity for Children and Their Families
By alleviating concerns about where to find their next meal, we open the door for parents to support their children attending school as opposed to needing their help foraging for food. The children supported by Nutrition 4 Change are fed, and in many of our partner locations, they also find compassionate care to help them heal from trauma, learn to read and keep up in school, and understand that Jesus loves them.
I feel blessed to be in this position right now. There is so much misery in these areas; even for people who have been saved and go to church, the poverty mindset is still with them. But with the kids, they’re able to hope for something better.
–Keysi M., Nicaragua Partner, Jesus is the Way
Nutrition 4 Change helps children not just in Nicaragua, but at the orphanages in Tijuana and a feeding program in Punta Mita, Mexico, as well as through partners in Ecuador, Panama, and at home in San Diego. Join us as we answer the call to ensure that children around the world are given the basic right to grow up healthy and strong through consistent and proper nourishment.