The best Christmas gift

The weather outside was frightful, but that didn't keep me from grilling last night. The pork tenderloin couldn't have turned out better, and our family sat down to an incredible dinner.

As we ate, my thoughts turned to Allen, a 17 year-old orphan in Swaziland whom I met this past summer. What was his dinner like? Did he even get dinner? Or a meal of any kind today? Or yesterday? Allen lives alone in a "house" the size of our sheds. On the best days, he eats once. Sometimes, he eats only every other day. His church helps, but it is overwhelmed with the many needs around them. So he resorts to begging. It's how he survives.

At our church this Advent we focused on starvation. On our worship center stage is a monitor counting up the number of people across the world who are dying from hunger-related illnesses. Since the beginning of Advent, that number has grown to over 700,000. I can't relate to that number, but I can relate to Allen.

Over the past few weeks we opened the Scriptures to see what God has to say about helping the poor, specifically around the issue of hunger. For five days we challenged people at La Croix to eat as the poorest one-third of the world's population eats: in small portions and with little variety. Then a small army of volunteers gathered at the West Park Mall over a weekend to pack meals for an organization called Feed My Starving Children, meals that will be distributed to places in the world where children are starving -- and dying.

Over six shifts our mantra was "chicken, veggies, soy and rice." Teams scooped each ingredient into little bags of 380 grams, enough to feed six children. The formula, loaded with 22 vitamins and minerals, was designed especially for malnourished children by food scientists at General Mills and the University of Minnesota. The results in physical growth and health are nothing short of astonishing. Omar, a native of El Salvador, weighed 18 pounds at eight years of age. After 16 days on the formula, his hair began growing back and his smile revealed hope. After six months, Omar weighed 73 pounds! The photos were some of the most dramatic before/after shots I've ever seen.

It was also confirmation that we can make a difference.

This year volunteers packed 505,224 meals. This means 1,384 children will eat every day for a year. Children like Allen and Omar. Perhaps you could join us next year or hold an event of your own. Perhaps you could give to hunger-related causes locally or internationally. I can't think of a better gift to give the one whose birth we celebrate this month, the one who said, "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat."

The Rev. Ron Watts is the senior pastor at La Croix United Methodist Church.