Mdm Fifin is working towards starting a small business at the end of the year.

The mom of 10 plans to sell rice, beans and oil outside of her home on a main walkway out of her village in Haiti.

Her children range in age from 7 months to 21 years. Before Elevate started working with Mdm Fifin, only five of her school aged children had attended school. Their first goal was to get the children in school.

Then, they wanted to make sure that the family had enough food to survive. MannaPack meals help supplement Mdm Fifin and her children until she is able to make enough profit with her business to support her family.

The final step is providing Mdm Fifin with a small microloan and business training.

Food is the Foundation

Providing nutritious FMSC meals to children and families who don’t have a sustainable food source builds a solid foundation for entire communities to become healthy and self-sufficient.

Reliable FMSC meals allow our partners to devote their resources to education, health care, ministry, agriculture and micro-business. Our ultimate goal is to create local food security so future generations can thrive.

Feed My Starving Children’s partner, Elevate, provides this foundation while working with families like Mdm Fifin’s build small businesses through microloans.

What is a Microloan?

Nearly 3 billion people in developing countries have little or no access to formal financial services, according to the World Bank.

The agency’s International Finance Corporation lauds microfinance as a powerful instrument for reducing poverty by enabling poor families to invest in enterprises, better nutrition, improved living conditions and the health and education of their children.

As just one piece of microfinance, microloans are defined by Merriam-Webster as small loans typically for financing entrepreneurial projects by impoverished individuals and groups especially in poor or developing regions.

While these loans are no silver bullet in the alleviation of poverty, they are widely understood to be a valuable tool in the toolbox.

Mdm Fifin’s family has already benefited from a relationship with Elevate, and she has yet to start her business.

“She knows that the school sponsorship, food and microloan are being done because we love Jesus,” Elevate staff said.

The Power of Food

This year, we’ve been diving deeper into hunger issues by bringing you stories of how powerful food is and how YOU can unleash that power in children's lives.

We recently finished a series on education, and for the next few months we’re going to be talking about how FMSC meals empower people to build communities.

We’ll introduce you to partners like Elevate and our many sustainability programs, including the FMSC MarketPlace.

Follow along on social media using the hashtag #fmscPowerofFood. We can't wait to see how YOU will unleash the power of food.