Miami Township video interview regarding the Milford Grand Opening

Haiti 5K results

Yesterday, Larry had the pleasure of attending the "check passing" at Oak Hills High School from the Haiti 5k. To the for left is Lyn Oliver who worked very hard to get all the details in place for the race....thanks Lyn! On the far right is Ann Ryan who had the original idea of having this event....thanks Ann! She came to the "factory" during our emergency Haiti packs and was greatly impacted by the entire event.

Channel 5 News was also at the "check passing". Ann expressed to them how she was told not to expect more than 150 runners, but that almost 400 runners and walkers showed up. She was told that they would most likely not raise their goal of $10,000, but they raised over $12,000!!! Ann mentioned to Channel 5 that the students and the staff of the high school as well as the district and many other supporters loved the project - it gave them purpose and a mission.

Hopefully many others will follow their lead.

Thank you to everyone involved with this event!

Kids Against Hunger aid group seeks home - Cincinnati Enquirer 6-11-10

Reaching Out To Haiti from the Cincinnati Enquirer

This article can be found in its entirety here. Videos and pictures can also be found by following that link.

Reaching Out To Haiti
Two months after the quake, hunger, illness and homelessness threaten to break a wounded people
Stories by MARK CURNUTTE, mcurnutte@enquirer.com •
Photos by CARRIE COCHRAN, ccochran@enquirer.com •
March 22, 2010

They slogged toward the airport, lugging suitcases or balancing mattresses on their heads, lured by the promise of help. They came by the tens of thousands.

Blank expressions on their faces, they hoped to get some of the food and water they knew was arriving daily.

They didn't.

Despite the crush of international aid and relief workers, many Haitians still get little or no relief two months after the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Instead, they've settled in crude shelters - fashioned from sticks, bedsheets, blue tarps and rust-streaked corrugated tin - that rim the airport's security fence........................

Child's Hope International, founded by a former Mason church pastor, Larry Bergeron, has assembled millions of high-protein meals in its Blue Ash "factory," a former Kroger grocery store, and shipped them around the world since its creation in 2008. Hundreds of thousands of them have gone to Haiti.

Bergeron, a member of Urbancrest Baptist Church in Lebanon, went to Haiti with three other church members last month to distribute 300,000 more meals. The 40-foot container, which he had been told had arrived in the Caribbean Sea port at St. Marc, instead had not gotten out of Florida.

He shipped to St. Marc in an attempt to avoid the indiscriminate tariffs slapped on aid by the Haitian government in Port-au-Prince.

Still, Bergeron borrowed 75 boxes of food he shipped late last year to a Clay City, Ky.,-based ministry with a Haitian mission.

Rethinking everything

One of the programs at the Children's International Lifeline center employs 20 women who make purses, aprons and clothing. In a room in a vocational school at the compound, women from the surrounding villages learn how to sew on foot-powered machines. They then graduate and join a manufacturing co-op that pays them a salary, a third of which goes into a mandatory savings account that allows them to buy the sewing machine.

"Otherwise, it's going to be an empty hole," said Don Curtis, of Clay City, who runs Lifeline. "We have to rethink how we do things; we have to help Haitian people make a better life for themselves. It has taken us years to get to this point. We had to essentially help bring up a new generation of Haitians."

Bergeron distributed 50 boxes of the borrowed food to the FOCAS-supported school in Calebasse. The remaining 25 boxes went to the Ebenezer Orphanage in the seaside town of Montrouis. It's run by a pastor and his wife, who have four of their own children. They've taken in 23 orphans and have struggled, since the earthquake, to feed them on a daily basis.

Bergeron, 61, visited the orphanage twice during his visit last month. The dirt compound lies behind a wire fence and a locked iron gate.

A church made from coconut leaves stands at the front of the property. A classroom and kitchen were built onto the back. Farther up the hill, the main house sleeps the family and children, as many as 16 on floor mats in a single room.

Bergeron spotted a vacant lot next to the orphanage and envisions a small farm that could teach the children agricultural skills and provide food for the orphanage. It could be landscaped to prevent erosion in heavy rains. An existing well could be dug deeper to ensure cleaner water. He planned to give the 40-foot sea container to the orphanage for housing.

The lot owner wanted $50 a month rent for the land for a guaranteed 10-year lease.

Bergeron, who has visited impoverished areas of Africa and Russia, had been to Haiti previously, and he has seen no situation as desperate as that in the Caribbean nation.

He focused on the possibilities at Ebenezer so as not to be overwhelmed by the enormity of Haiti's problems.

"We have to help people learn to help themselves," he said. "It took a long time to get into this situation. You have to start by trying to change the lives of children. You pick one project. It's almost like creating a firebreak to fight a forest fire. You draw a line and try to save some of the trees.

"I look at the level of brokenness and decay and think it might take 100 years to see a significantly better society."

Help Haiti 5K Run Walk

Help Haiti 5K Run Walk
Sunday, May 16th, 2010 3:00 p.m.
Oak Hills High School, Cincinnati, OH

Help Haiti - Run for their Lives

Join us Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 3:00 pm for a 5K Run/Walk and party
To benefit A Child's Hope International - Kids Against Hunger

Bill Hemmer - Master of Ceremonies
Featuring "The Menus" - Entertainment following the race

Register Online at GetMeRegistered.com

WHAT: 5K (3.1 miles) Run/Walk

BENEFICIARY: A Child's Hope International - Kids Against Hunger

WHEN: Sunday, May 16th 3:00 p.m.

WHERE: Oak Hills High School, Cincinnati, OH

COURSE: 5K Course (just over three miles) begins and ends at Oak Hills High School.

RUN DIVISIONS: 14/under, 15-18, 19-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-59, 60-64, 65-69 and 70/over.

WALK DIVISIONS: 29/under, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69 and 70/over.

AWARDS: Top male and female runners and walkers. Age group awards to the top 15% of each run/walk division. Awards presented immediately following the race/walk.

AWARDS CEREMONY: Overall Winners will be recognized Immediately following the Race

MUSIC AND ACTIVITIES:

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

1:30 Registration and Number pick up begins

2:00 Oak Hills Band Birdfinder performs

3:00 Race Starts / D.J. Bill Dattilo

3:45 Bill Hemmer and Larry Bergeron

4:00 The Menus!!

Come early and stay for the day!

REFRESHMENTS: Willl be provided for all race participants after the race.

EMAIL ADDRESS: All Pre-registered entries that include a valid email address will receive an email confirmation of registration prior to the race and will receive their individual results via email.

PRE-REGISTRATION FEE: $15 without a T-shirt or $25 with a T-shirt. Mail-in entries must be postmarked by Monday, May 10th.

T-SHIRTS: Race T-shirts are optional. T-shirts are $10 each while supplies last.

RACE DAY REGISTRATION: Race-day Registration: $20 without a T-shirt or $30 with a T-shirt (while supplies last).

REGISTER ONLINE: Click here to register online at GetMeRegistered.com with a credit card through Thursday, May 13th. A small service fee will be added to your bill. This is the easiest way to go.

REGISTER BY MAIL: Register by Printing a PDF Race Brochure and Mailing. Printable Race Brochure (PDF). This is the cheapest way to go. Mail-in entries must be postmarked by Monday, May 10th.

LATE REGISTRATION and NUMBER PICK UP: Saturday, May 15th from 12-3pm at the High School. Race Day prices apply at late registration so if you know you are coming, register early.

REGISTER ON RACE DAY: Race-Day Registration and Number Pickup: begins at 1:30 a.m. at Oak Hills High School.

***** NO REFUNDS****

OAK HILLS HIGH SCHOOL: Oak Hills is located at 3200 Ebenezer, Cincinnati, OH. It is on the West Side of Cincinnate, West of Glenway between Werk Road and Bridgetown Road.

GOOGLE: 3200 Ebenezer, 45248 for directions from your location.

PARKING: Ample Free Parking available at the High School.

Register Today!

Still have questions? Call Greg McCormick at 513.652.6225 for more information

Register Online at GetMeRegistered.com

Fashion Fundraiser Helps Feed Haiti

Fashion Fundraiser Helps Feed Haiti

Reported by: Larry Shields
Email: larry.shields@wcpo.com
Photographed By: Phyliss Ho
Photographed By: Larry Shields

NEWPORT, Ky -- High fashion helped feed hungry children all over the world this Saturday at The Syndicate.

The fundraiser, "Catwalk For Haiti," brought a slice of California culture to the Commonwealth.

Cincinnati native Jonathan Chia organized the event with his business partner Ashley Covarrubias. Their Los Angles companies Production Runway and Chia Media produced the event.

"A lot of people in Cincinnati have never been to a fashion show, so they really don't know what they get from their money," said Chia.

Each $20 ticket went directly to the Cincinnati charity "Kids Against Hunger," a program at Liberty Township-based, "A Child's Hope International."

"They send over rice, so two hours of your time, packaging the rice will feed someone for a whole year," Covarrubias explained. "So, by donating money and our time, hopefully we can feed a couple 100,000 people."

Chia says he got the idea for the show because he served as a solider with someone from Haiti.

"That kinda inspired me and Ashley to go out and do what we do -- which is fashion shows, but aim it a little bit towards helping out -- giving back to the community," said Chia.

The article and video can be found online here.

Haiti Marketplace

A HUGE thank you goes to Kathy Stauffer from Columbus, OH for her support of Kids Against Hunger! After the devastating earthquake in Haiti, she felt compelled to do something to help the people that were suffering. Desiring to make a difference, Kathy helped organize a fundraiser at an elementary school that raised $4,070, half of which went to Kids Against Hunger - Cincinnati! The $2,035 contribution to KAH will purchase the ingredients to produce 8,140 meals, or enough nutritious Kids Against Hunger food packets to feed almost 23 starving children for ONE YEAR!!!!

Here's her story, in her own words:

The event was put together in just over four weeks. My family is not involved in the Roots and Shoots organization that is mentioned in the article. The day after the earthquake in Haiti, I was totally overwhelmed with the things I was seeing on the news. I prayed and prayed for the many people there. But, I also prayed if there was something else my family and I could do. I got on the internet and found Kids Against Hunger. I had never heard of it before that day. I also talked to a few teachers at my children’s school to see if they had plans to do anything. That is how I got hooked up with the Root and Shoots group.

I attended their meeting on January 22nd. As the kids brainstormed many ideas of how they could help, one girl said, we could put all these together and have a marketplace. Throughout the next week the adults decided we could take on this venture and the planning began. I wish you could have been there to see how the how Wickliffe School community came together to make this happen.

There was ANOTHER snow storm that had started a few hours before the event began but that did not stop people from coming out. As families entered the front doors there were signs about Kids Against Hunger, a donation box for consumables, along with the video you sent me trailed by a Kirk Franklin “Help Haiti” video. About ½ hour into the night, the drum circle came out and joined us at the entry so kids could participate in playing bongos and other drums together. It was quite fun. Those who entered the gym could bid on silent auction items such as art by local professional artist, restaurant gift cards and more. The silent auction alone made almost $1,000. There were a few rows of tables with handmade crafts, jewelry, t-shirts and more. There were a few Caribbean musicians playing next to the market place then a long row of dinner items that had been donated by local restaurants and stores. ALL the money made went to the fund.

Outside of the gym there was a bake sale, hot chocolate stand, face painting, a puppet show and story reading of Haitian folklore and some games. It took many volunteers. But, the night was a success. Many people want to “do” something because there hearts were filled with grief for the people of Haiti This event gave them a way to contribute.

A local newspaper wrote an article of the event, you can find the article here.

Thanks Kathy!

Locals traveling to help in Haiti

Locals traveling to help in Haiti
Agencies send people, goods
By Mark Curnutte

Five weeks after an earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince and killed an estimated 230,000 people, old wounds and broken bones are still bandaged with T-shirts and malnutrition and infections are ever-growing problems.

Three international relief agencies based in Greater Cincinnati, including one with a permanent presence in Haiti, will deal with those problems in the coming weeks.

Matthew 25 Ministries, based in Blue Ash, will send a 14-person medical mission team, including four doctors and four nurses, to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince for nine days.

A Child's Hope International, based in Liberty Township, will send six-people to unload 300,000 meals, infant formula and diapers for distribution.

One of that group's destinations will be the Restavek Foundation - a Kenwood-based organization that fights childhood slavery in Haiti - which has an office and schools throughout greater Port-au-Prince.

The groups will carry donations, support and the volunteer hours of tens of thousands of people in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

"We are just a small part - you're talking about a large sea of humanity that is behind all of this," said Larry Bergeron, founder of a Child's Hope International, an affiliate of Kids Against Hunger.

More than 2,000 volunteers have packed 660,000 high-protein meals in boil-safe bags since Jan. 12 in a former Blue Ash grocery store, known as "the factory." The group has already shipped hundreds of thousands of meals.

Bergeron and four volunteers from Urbancrest Baptist Church in Lebanon will be in St. Marc, a city about 40 miles up Haiti's western seaboard from Port-au-Prince, to unload the shipment and truck it to a secured warehouse closer to the capital.

The goal, Bergeron said, is to avoid tariffs indiscriminately applied by the Haitian government to shipments coming into Port-au-Prince.

Besides the personnel, Urbancrest has raised almost $100,000 for Haitian relief since the earthquake. It contributed $40,000 to A Child's Hope International to buy rice and other ingredients, and the church sent 300 water-purification units to the impoverished nation.

"We see this as a long-term thing," said the Rev. Tom Pendergrass, Urbancrest senior pastor.

U Pull & Pay, an auto parts salvage yard in Carthage, bought a pickup truck in Florida for Bergeron's group, paid to ship it to Haiti and threw in several sets of tires and spare engine parts for it and other vehicles. Roads and streets in Haiti are deeply rutted and washed out, even in the best conditions.

"We certainly wanted to find something to do to help," said Mark Schaefer, U Pull & Pay president.

The Matthew 25 Ministries group left late last week and planned to begin visiting tent cities and orphanages over the weekend. It will be based out of a hotel about 45 minutes north of Port-au-Prince and will make day trips to treat "old wounds, broken bones that had been bandaged with T-shirts, infections, cases of malnutrition," said Dr. Eric Niemeyer, of Hyde Park Family Medicine and Christ Hospital.

Niemeyer, who has done relief work in Nicaragua, simply wanted to do some good where possible, he said.

Christ Hospital paid all expenses, including $3,500 in travel, lodging and food, for Niemeyer and fellow Christ physician Dr. James O'Dea.

"So many of the children in the orphanages have not had any care," Niemeyer said.

The group took exactly one ton of supplies, including splints, pain relievers, first-aid kits and surgical instruments.

The Restavek Foundation, founded by a former Haitian child slave, Jean-Robert Cadet, operates a feeding program for 5,000 people a day and is building semi-permanent classrooms for its more than 400 students.

Security walls are being rebuilt around its two-dozen schools to provide safe havens for children. Its Haiti office is in Petionville, a hillside suburb southeast of Port-au-Prince.

"We're working with our school directors to hire teachers and begin the process of resuming school," said Joan Conn of Indian Hill, the Restavek director, "so we can bring some normalcy back to children's lives."

The article can be found here.

Haiti Relief News Coverage

In response to the crisis in Haiti, we are in the middle of a week of emergency packing sessions. For more details of the packing sessions and items that are in need, please visit: http://www.achildshopeintl.org/Haiti.html

We have received some local news coverage that we wanted to share as well. Some may not be too familiar with what we do and why we do it, so please share these brief news reports. Thank you!

"Tri-State Woman Has Special Connection To Haiti" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q1v1SYqfs8

"Volunteers Prepare Donations For Shipment To Haiti" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNppNteWLi0

'Pack-a-thon' aids Guatemalan kids

Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati.Com » Local news
Last Updated: 6:46 am | Saturday, November 21, 2009

By Mark Curnutte • mcurnutte@enquirer.com • November 21, 2009
Article can be found online here.

BLUE ASH - Working two-hour shifts in teams, more than 600 volunteers Saturday assembled 200,000 meals for starving children in famine-stricken Guatemala.

From ages 3 to 85, the volunteers packed a high-protein mix of rice, dried vegetables and soy protein - one scoop at a time - through funnels and into plastic bags. They were boxed and stamped with a yellow sticker reading "Packed in Cincinnati, Ohio USA by volunteers who care." The next step is shipment by the organization Kids Against Hunger to the Central American nation.

• Photos: Pack-a-Thon

Entire families, corporate volunteers and nurses with international human relief experience were among those who worked the assembly tables in a former grocery store on Hunt Road in what organizers billed as a "pack-a-thon."

Devin Robinson, 47, a nurse at Cincinnati Children's from Burlington, scooped soy during a morning shift.

She came alone and wanted to experience the food end of humanitarian relief. She spent two weeks in 2008 working in a clinic and teaching first aid in schools in the South American nation of Peru.

"I wanted to see this and see if there was a way to make a connection," said Robinson, who plans to go back to Peru next summer with Project C.U.R.E.

Organizers hung a white board on a hook in the front of the space after a morning shift. In marker, it read 42,768 meals - the number packed in two hours.

Kids Against Hunger is a part of the Liberty Township-based A Child's Hope International, founded in May 2008. Lawrence Bergeron, former lead pastor at Mason's Hope Church, is its executive director.

"Our whole focus is the 'least of these,'" said Bergeron, who spent the day leading an information session for incoming volunteers in one corner of the building before they would go on the line. Then he'd announce a shift change over a bullhorn.

Volunteers washed their hands with waterless sanitizer and slipped on aprons, rubber gloves and hairnets. Packed boxes were sealed and stacked on wooden pallets. In the back, volunteers poured rice and other ingredients into large plastic containers that were moved to tables for volunteers to scoop.

The group has shipped its food packets to Appalachia, overseas and locally through the Freestore Foodbank. Organizers and a banner hanging in the former store - the Kroger Co. handed Bergeron the keys to the building and pays for all utilities and necessary upgrades - reminds people of their ability to make a difference: One volunteer working two hours can pack enough food to feed a child for one year.

"You could use a machine for this, but you would lose the human touch," Bergeron said. "It's great to see the community coming together, all faiths, all ages."

Keith and Lecia Holley of Loveland brought their three children - daughter, Karlin, 11, and sons, Ethan and Nolan, 8 and 6 - to work a shift as a family. They took their turns scooping ingredients into the bags, patting them flat by hand and packing them into boxes.

"It's a great family ministry," Keith Holley, 43, said. "It's a hands-on way to help the less fortunate."

Less fortunate, indeed: 52 percent of Guatemala's 13.3 million people live in poverty, according to the Latin America Herald Tribune. A government study released in February reported that 45.6 percent of Guatemalan children suffer from chronic malnutrition and that their physical growth falls below the average established by the World Health Organization.

Billie Kimbrough, an executive with the Kroger, volunteered Saturday with a co-worker.

"It's a really neat process," Kimbrough said of her first-time experience with Kids against Hunger. "When I see the tapes (in the orientation) ... No person should go hungry."

More information:
To learn more about A Child's Hope International and its Kids Against Hunger program, go to www.achildshopeintl.org or call 513-515-2611.

Chase Community Giving

Please vote for A Child's Hope International (KAH Cincinnati) to be a receipt of Chase Bank's charitable giving. Thank you!!!!

Hometown Hero

(from left to right: Larry Bergeron, Brian Ramstetter, Gary Crawford from IGA, Brian Thomas from 55KRC)

Congratulations Larry Bergeron (founder & director of Kids Against Hunger - Cincinnati) for being named 55KRC/IGA's November "Hometown Hero"!

Larry was nominated by good KAH-Cincinnati friend, Brian Ramstetter. Being selected for this award earned Kids Against Hunger - Cincinnati a donation of $550 from 55KRC and IGA as well as an on air interview on 55KRC last Wednesday!

For a recording of the interview from Wednesday, visit: 55kRC podcasts

Look for the podcast titled, "55KRC AM Show Archive 11/18/09 8AM Katherine Debrecht - Author, Chief Streicher and IGA Hometown Hero". Press the "Listen" button. To get to our interview, fast forward (the two areas pointing to the right), until the 14:29 mark. To stop fast forwarding, press the pause button and then press the same button (now it will be the play button). Brian Thomas continues to talk about Larry & KAH even after the interview until the 22:41 mark.

Pictures from the interview can be found here: 55KRC photo Album

Brian Thomas also mentioned KAH in his video blog ("Vlog") Wednesday. Go to: 55KRC Brian Thomas Vlog After a brief commercial then you should see "11-18-09 Vlog". He spends the first 60 seconds talking about Larry & KAH and then continues his political talk show.

For more information or to nominate any other deserving Hometown Hero, visit 55KRC Hometown Hero.

Donations go to food relief

The Cincinnati Enquirer • October 29, 2009

A family has pledged $10,000 in matching funds to Kids Against Hunger for a special Thanksgiving effort aimed at providing hunger relief for children affected by recent natural disasters such as the tsunami in American Samoa.

If the nonprofit can raise $10,000 in donations by Nov. 21, the amount will be matched by the anonymous donors.

The money will then be used to purchase rice and other ingredients for food packets that will be assembled during four packing sessions on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

Kids Against Hunger is part of A Child's Hope International, Inc., an organization founded by Liberty Township residents Larry and Elizabeth Bergeron.

To make a donation, or to volunteer for a packing session, go to www.achildshopeintl.org/Thanksgiving.html.

Cincinnati Enquirer article can be found here.

Bergeron focused on food relief

Dayton Daily News
May 21, 2009

Bergeron focused on food relief
The non-profit charity also deals with adoptions, orphan care, foster care and humanitarian relief.

By Katherine Ullmer
Staff Writer

DAYTON — Larry Bergeron, former pastor of Hope Church in Mason, now works part-time as a hospice chaplain between Dayton and Cincinnati to support his family.

But his passion is his nonprofit charity, A Child’s Hope International, which focuses on adoptions, orphan care, foster care, and humanitarian relief.

Part of that relief is the international campaign called Kids Against Hunger. Richard Proudfit, an entrepreneur in New Hope, Minn., started Kids Against Hunger in March, 1999. Eighteen states now have satellite food packaging sites. Ohio has satellite offices in Dayton and West Chester Twp.

The West Chester Twp. satellite, located in a warehouse of the Berean Christian Stores at Exit 19 along Interstate 75, serves the Cincinnati to Dayton area. It has fed children in Appalachia, Wilmington, Africa (44 tons of food shipped) and Haiti, Bergeron said.

Bob Dixon, 45, an ordained Baptist minister/general contractor, works the regional food packaging division of Kids Against Hunger out of a small area of a 65,000 square-foot building donated by Advanced Machinery, at 2412 N. Gettysburg Ave.

“I’ve always had a need to help people,” Dixon said.

A general contractor, he was ordained at the Second Baptist Church in Piqua in 2004.

He learned about Kids Against Hunger about a year ago from “a fellow going back to Uganda.” Proudfit, the founder of Kids Against Hunger, helped him set up his operation.

They’ve had donations from churches, Walmart, Meijer and private companies to pay for food packet ingredients, he said.

Dixon said they need donations of money and materials to repair leaks in the roof and renovate other parts of the building for more space. They also need volunteers/organizations to help hand package the food.

Twice a month they package food packets with a specially formulated mixture of white rice, fortified crushed soy, dehydrated vegetables and a chicken-flavored 21 mineral/vitamin powder, he said. One package can provide six nutritionally-complete servings at a cost of only 23 cents per serving.

They can bring a mobile packaging unit with supplies to a school or church, Dixon said.

Thus far they have packaged and shipped 100,000 packages to Haiti and 100,000 to Swaziland, Africa, he said.

They hope to fill another 100,000 packages to put in Ohio food pantries so people laid off from work can be sure of well-balanced meals. He’s been talking with Catholic Social Services about that project, he said.

Students from The Mound Street Academy on Washington Street, and Youth Works at the Dayton Job Center helped out recently, and a group of Boy Scouts from Englewood packaged food May 9, he said.

He’s been trying to get his message out about the program by going to a different church each weekend and also has talked to the Red Cross, Dayton’s mayor, and various organizations.

He can be reached by calling (937) 567-4035 or by e-mail at Bob@kids
againsthunger.com.

Story can be found here.

KAH & Epiphany United Methodist in the news!

Help Epiphany feed thousands on Sunday afternoon

MIAMI TOWNSHIP, OHIO – You can help feed thousands of children if you come to Epiphany United Methodist this Sunday afternoon. Epiphany's Serving Gladly Committee will bring all of the supplies and equipment to the church and turn it into a “packaging satellite” for one afternoon. It is to aid the delivery of a specially formulated rice-soy casserole to starving children and their families in the USA and around the world. One package provides six nutritionally-complete servings.

An assembly line will be formed to measure and place all of the ingredients in packages. Church members have been traveling to the West Chester Kids Against Hunger warehouse to participate, and during their last work day there, they packed 14,000 meals.

The meal ingredients are formulated by food scientists to provide a rich source of easily digestible protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins needed by an undernourished child’s body.

The food is also acceptable to the broad diversity of ethnic tastes and religious differences around the world. The food offers all 9 of the essential amino acids required for complete nutrition, something that can’t be said about other typical food relief sources such as rice or Kids-Against-Hunger-3 beans alone. It is also very simple to prepare, requiring only 6 cups of boiling water to make a complete meal.

The public is invited and encouraged to lend a hand and learn more about the mission of Kids Against Hunger.
Kid’s Against Hunger at Epiphany
April 19
1-3:00 PM
http://www.epiphanyumc.org

Original story can be found here.

Thank You Coach Jake Grunkemeyer and the Kings Basketball Team!

Directly from The Official Knights Roundball Club:

Knights Boys basketball team deliver meaningful impact at Christmas

Coach Jake Grunkemeyer led a team of over 30 on Saturday December 13th in preparing meals for starving children around the world. The Kings Men’s basketball program Varsity and JV players came along side Larry Bergeron and the Kids Against Hunger Cincinnati program to prepare meals for starving children around the world. In two hours the team prepared enough food to feed a village of 30 for a year. Today over 30,000 deaths occur daily from starvation. Our Kings Athletes, took time from their schedule to make a small dent in this global issue. The learn more about Kid’s Against Hunger watch the Kids Against Hunger Video and to learn more on how you can make a real difference visit www.kidsagainsthunger-cinci.org.

Thanks guys!!

Kids Against Hunger in the news!

Helping feed the hungry is new mission for couple

Local news Cincinnati.Com » Local news
Last Updated: 3:54 pm | Saturday, December 13, 2008

A Liberty Township couple is living out the old phrase "Think Globally, Act Locally."

And they have a growing number of community and church groups helping to carry out their mission.

In June, Larry Bergeron and his wife, Elizabeth, founded a charity called A Child's Hope International. The nonprofit focuses on four areas: adoptions, orphan care, foster care and humanitarian relief - including an industrial-scale food-packing operation that has involved hundreds of volunteers.

Members of the Kings High School boys basketball team will spend time at a warehouse in West Chester Township today earning community service credits by packing food mix for malnourished children. The work is part of an international campaign called Kids Against Hunger.

"This is our community service project this year," says Jake Grunkemeyer, as assistant coach for the Kings varsity basketball team. "They will get a lot out of it. They'll work on the production line and they'll see a movie about where the food goes. It makes you sick to see what these kids (in other countries) go through."

Almost every Saturday, community and church groups form four or five assembly lines at the Berean Christian Stores warehouse. Volunteers package a mixture of rice, soy and vegetables fortified with vitamins that provides six one-cup servings to an undernourished child.

The packets are shipped to food pantries in Greater Cincinnati and to impoverished areas in the U.S. and nations around the world. So far, more than 25 tons of food have been shipped.

Bergeron, 60, is a former lead pastor at Hope Church in Mason. Now, this is his full-time mission.

He says the program has grown so fast that it is starting to outgrow the space donated by Berean. Now, the food-packing operation is searching for a larger space - about 5,000 square feet of heated warehouse space - that can be used on weekdays to accommodate all the people who want to help.

"Volunteers put their heart into this," Bergeron said.

For example, about 1,100 volunteers showed up one weekend in September for a special pack-a-thon for Haiti relief.

Now, two 40-foot containers have been filled; soon to be shipped to Swaziland.

Rita Kuntz, a member of the Kids Against Hunger team, says the family-friendly nature of the packing sessions draws volunteers.

Children as young as 3 and adults in their 80s have participated.

People feel they are doing something tangible, according to Kuntz. "We even let them write messages on the boxes," she says.

To get involved
For more information about A Child's Hope International, go to www.achildshopeintl.org or call 513-515-2611.
Copyright ©2008 The Enquirer. All rights reserved.