Molly Claire 00:39

Hello, and welcome to this week's episode. Get ready to be inspired. You are going to be hearing from a woman who is behind a mission that has already brought five billion meals, billion, not million, five billion meals to those in need. I cannot wait to introduce you to this guest. Week after week on the podcast, I'm talking about how do we create meaningful change? How do we grow? How do we as coaches, those of you that follow me that are coaches, how do we as coaches impact others so they can change their lives? We are in a space here of serving change, serving others, helping the world to be a better place. This episode is all about service. What I'm really excited about in this episode is you're going to learn some very small ways that you can easily make a huge difference to people who really need it. Before we dive into that, I want to give you a little bit of a heads up because I am thrilled to let you know that master coach training is starting again this fall and we are enrolling now. Part of the reason I'm so excited to share this with you is I have a couple of great resources for those of you that have been on the fence that have been watching. Next week, I will begin a six part series about the life mastery method inside master coach training.I'm going to be breaking down for you how lasting change is created, how it begins, how we sustain it, and what that means for you as well as your clients for those of you that are coaches. Make sure to flag this podcast. Next week, you're going to have the first in the six part series where we're talking about how do we create change? How do we change our lives? How do we change others' lives? It's going to be amazing. I'm going to have a worksheet to go with each one, so get excited. The other thing I want to give you a heads up about is I'm putting together a private podcast bundle for you. This is an audio series, so those of you that have again been on the fence or want to know what it's like inside of master coach training, I have a bundle coming for you, so watch for that next week. Now, let's dive into this incredible conversation with COO of Feed My Starving Children, Lisa Stender. Hello, everyone. I am thrilled to bring you today's guest. This interview today is sure to inspire you.  I have today with me on the podcast, Lisa Stender, who is the COO of an incredible organization, Feed My Starving Children. You're going to learn more about it on the podcast today, and I cannot wait to dive in and talk with you. Lisa, thank you so much for being here.

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Lisa Stender 03:33

Absolutely, Molly. I'm so excited to be joining you today and the listeners.

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Molly Claire 03:39

So I know I've told you this, Lisa, but I first found Feed My Starving Children. I don't even know how many years ago it was, but I did something called a mobile pack. And those of you listening, you're going to hear more about what all this is. But I did a mobile pack, which meant that there was a church close by that had everything set up for us to come and volunteer and put meals together. And that experience for me, Lisa, is one that has just stuck with me. And it was a moment that made me fall in love with the work you do and the effect that it has. And I'm so excited for you to share more about the organization and how it impacts people. And those of you listening, what I want to say to you is, not only are you sure to be inspired on this episode, but you're going to find out that there are so many really easy ways that you can actually make a difference in the world in such a big way. Yes.

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Lisa Stender 04:40

Yeah, so Molly, what you're talking about is our mobile pack operations and Feed My Serving Children was started in 1987 in Minnesota, which is where I'm from. So forgive the accent if it comes through a little bit to your listeners. But we've been operating since 1987 and this past February, we celebrated shipping five billion meals in the history of our organization. And for the longest time for most of that history, every single one of those meals was hand-packed by our volunteers. And so when you think about people, communities, churches, schools, businesses coming together over that period of time, it really is an incredible way to demonstrate impact and its impact that is life-giving. And it's also impact that is quite frankly, life-saving for a lot of people that receive our food. And so we've got eight permanent sites, soon to be nine across the United States, some in Texas, some in Chicago, some in Minnesota, Arizona. And then we have a warehouse in Pennsylvania. And through those operations, we support meal packing at the permanent sites, but also in our mobile packs, again, around the country. And so mobile pack is where you get started with us. And I love that before we ever had a permanent site in Texas, you were one of our early people. And I love that you were engaged and inspired. And the beautiful thing about packing with us is that it can be done. We run hour-and-a-half to two-hour shifts. We welcome volunteers in that are age five all the way up to 100-plus and everything in between. So there really is a job for everybody. And we hand-pack a dehydrated meal formula that contains all of the vitamins and minerals needed in one meal serving that helps people either come back from a state of malnutrition or starvation.

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Molly Claire 06:35

Mm-hmm. And I just, you know, as you were talking, I want to just like highlight some things for those of you listening and then we can of course dive more into this but some of the incredible things about the work you do is Number one, I I know this might seem like a small thing But I think this is a big deal and I think this is a big deal for people who are wondering how do I give where do I donate and and this thing is how efficient your organization is And and I believe is it is it like 89 to 90 percent of everything actually goes to meals like delivered It's there's not There's not there aren't these big margins where you're donating a dollar and five cents of it is going to good, right? But it's a lean organization, and you're really committed to keeping your numbers that way.

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Lisa Stender 07:25

We definitely are. Stewardship is one of our guiding values. And so each meal costs 29 cents. I can't feed my family with 29 cents for a meal whatsoever and expect good nutrition to happen there.But we are very cognizant of that stewardship value. And so 29 cents is the cost per meal. We have an 88% efficiency ratio, which is really, really high. And we've actually received the Charity Navigator highest rating, five-star rating for over 20 years. And so we want to keep it that way. And we do everything that we can to keep costs down, keep things efficient. And really for us, it is about turning donations and dollars into more meals. There's so many kids out there that need food. Our partner requests this year were for over 500 million meals, just this year alone. We will be able to meet the needs of 410 million meals. That's our goal for our organization this year. And it's not because there's less need out there. I know that the needs are even greater than that. That's just within our partner network. The people who are on the ground in the countries where our food is served, they go through a request process and then we go through an allocation process. And so when we promise our meals, we are stepping out in faith that those meals will be funded and that they will be able to be packed because we promise those meals to our partners. And we have never, ever missed a promised allocation in the history of our organization.

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Molly Claire 08:57

That is incredible. That is incredible. And you know the other thing like Lisa as you're talking that I was thinking about that really hit me so of course Lisa and I we just connected at a lunch and I went to her locally and I was like I really gotta have you on my podcast and here we are. But this luncheon you know ripples of hope. One of the things that hit me from this is that if I go back in time to my first experience with Feed My Starving Children it was really seeing the lives being saved right. Lives being saved. Malnutrition and coming back to a state of of being alive right really and or more fully alive. But what really was added to that for me in this recent event was seeing the ways that not only is this organization helping people to be alive but actually thriving and seeing the ways that you're partnering, you know, with these other groups to have ways that people can make their own money. And I remember one of the—I wish I could remember exactly what it was you'll probably remember—but I know there was a quote there up on the screen where a child was saying it's easier for me to concentrate in school when I'm not hungry you know and it's just like yeah there's starvation and they're solving that and then what about bringing this level of hope and thriving to these communities it's amazing.

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Lisa Stender 10:38

Yeah, it really is. And, you know, as we think about food, particularly here in the United States, when we think about hunger, we think, oh, I miss breakfast, and I'm really, really hungry for lunch. This is not the same type of hunger that we're talking about. Hunger hurts. It hurts. It creates a bodily ache. It creates a sense of hopelessness. Your muscles go weak. Your brain development is stunted if you're young and in your growing and developing years. And so there's so many different ways that we think about food and what it can do. And so here at Feed My Starving Children, we talk about food being the foundation. And so our work is to give our food away to the partners. And then they in turn are able to do all sorts of programmatic things that help in the communities where they're serving. And they can be things like microloans for businesses. They can be things like artisan partners. So we have a marketplace where we sell artisan goods that provide a fair and sustainable wage. We're part of the Fair Trade Federation. And that means that it's just another level, again, of stewardship and transparency. Our mantra is feeding kids, feeding spirits, and empowering communities. And so when we take care of the need for food in communities, instead of having to go out and look for food on a daily basis, families, teachers, doctors can give this food out in community feeding programs or school feeding programs, or even to individual households. That means that they can conserve their energy, they can send their kids to school, and their kids are going to learn and thrive. It means that they can focus on other areas where they need to grow in order to become self-sustaining. And that is so much the heartbeat of Feed My Starving Children. In some cases, we know that our food will be needed for a very long time. In others, and we run community-based projects that are led by the community, they tell us what they need. And we help them with a couple of different things. Maybe we drill a well, maybe we help with their goat program, give them funds to start up a couple of different businesses, along with food. And then we have a plan that over the course of five or so years, they become self-sustaining, and then we're ready to move on to another community. And so we have those programs in five different regions around the world. And they have been successful, mainly because they have their need of food met, but they're programs run by the community, by people who live there that know what their needs are. And then we can empower them to do the things that they need to do and then move into another space once they have reached a certain level of stability.

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Molly Claire 13:25

Mm-hmm. I mean, it just it really is incredible the impact and I know we're gonna talk more about this in the podcast. But I just want to mention again like those of you listening now, so I think it can be really easy to feel like we can't really have an impact right or the problem is so big or well, I can't give them this way or that way and truly there are so many ways to support your mission, right? Whether it is, you know, small monetary donations, large monetary donations always an option, right? Physically volunteering, which I want to talk a little bit more about the benefits of, well, not only the the importance of volunteering in person, but actually the benefits that we receive as we give, right? So there's that and then there's also the online store, right, where people can go and buy really incredible things. I have a beautiful blue woven basket downstairs, and I have a bird, and my daughter has a bracelet, all of these things, right? I buy them and it's like, oh guess what? You've just, you know, this provides 49 meals, you know or whatever it is. So we're gonna talk more about this, but if you're listening, like I really, my hope is that you're gonna dive into this because there are little things you can do that make a huge, huge difference.

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Lisa Stender 14:46

Yeah, you're exactly right, Molly. And that's the piece about feeding spirits that is in kind of our three pillars of focus. And when we talk about feeding spirits, we're not just talking about the people who receive the food. There is something beautiful about coming together in community, whether it's you as an individual coming to serve and pack the meals or coming in with your business or your church or your school, serving in a mobile pack like you did when you first got to know us. That feeding of spirits is so important because the world can feel heavy and it oftentimes does. And we hear a lot about all of the hard things that are going on in the world. So it is hard to sometimes know like, what can I do? It's just me. But I would say that there's a lot and with an hour and a half to two hours of time, you can come in and engage. And there is just a flow. We make the process super simple and you can come in and pack meals. Even if you're by yourself, you tend to meet new friends and we have super volunteers. We call them at all of our sites and even our mobile packs where they came in as an individual, but now they have their crew that they pack with every Tuesday night or every Wednesday and then they go get lunch together. It is really a beautiful thing to see what you can do with two hours of your time and just your hands. And it's funny. So my daughter is 14. She came to work with me yesterday and I said, do you want to go pack meals? And she's like, yes. And when she was done, I was like, okay, what were your numbers? What was your impact? And in two hours, her group that she was working with, she knew nobody in that room. She's 14 years old. She found a group that packs frequently and they were packing really fast. And she said, we packed 128 boxes. And I said, okay, how many meals was that? She's like 27,649. And the fact that you can say those numbers and share them, I mean, that's more than filling up a stadium or an arena of people and knowing that you can have that impact in just a short amount of time feels really, really good.

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Molly Claire 16:54

So incredible and I mean I think that yeah, it's not next Saturday, but the one after, my daughter and I are gonna go and like you said it we have a an hour and 45-minute shift. And you go in, and tell us a little bit about it. Because, first of all, it's very easy, right? You don't really have to have any skills when you arrive. Just so you know, you have to know how to cook. You don't have to know how to do much of anything, but it's really streamlined and the meals have all of the nutrients for a day for the people receiving them.

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Lisa Stender 17:30

Yeah, that's correct. So when people come to volunteer with us, we do a little opening, we gather people and we just call it like an orientation and share a little bit about who we are, what we're doing, what we're going to pack. And then we share a video about here's how the packing process works. So it is super simple and we've designed it that way to be very low barrier. Anybody with any kind of abilities can help us. We have different jobs. So one of them is just putting labels, which are stickers on our pouches. And then the other is packing the meal. So we just do vitamins, vegetables, soy and rice into a pouch and each pouch contains six meals that when added with water gets cooked up and can just be a nutritious meal for a family or an individual. Just depends on how partners serve it. And then we have jobs in the warehouse where they're bringing rice and soy and vitamins and vegetables that replenishing constantly while people are packing the meals. And then when we're done with that, we bring everybody back together and we share personal stories from the field about the impact that our food is making in individual lives, in schools, in communities, in hospitals, in clinics. And then we share our packing numbers and celebrate what we did together. And then you're out the door.

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Molly Claire 18:44

It's incredible. And I think that, you know, something I know we talked a little bit about this before we started recording the interview, but things have shifted quite a bit in our world since COVID, where people even outside of volunteering, people just aren't connecting in person nearly as much as we used to. And I almost think, I think there is more of a fear or hesitation around actually going out and being together because we got so much in that mindset. And even though time has passed, I know you've said it's affected your volunteer numbers.

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Lisa Stender 19:18

It has. We have seen a decline in volunteerism and I think, you know, attributed to exactly what you just talked about. And we see people working more from home than from the office. And so there's great opportunities there to step outside of ourselves and to build in some team building again. You know, how great would it be to be like, how are we going to get back as a team? Come on in, even if you're working from home with your team or your church group or whatever. Come on in, serve for an hour and a half and then go grab, you know, dinner and happy hour or something like that. We have to be more intentional about finding ways to connect. And at FMSC, I feel like it is one of the easiest ways to do that. Our signup system is easy on our website. You can find shifts because we have five shifts a day, six days a week. We have mobile packs listed on our website. And so if you're looking for a place to belong, if you were looking for something to do together to build your team up or to build, you know, your sports team up or your work group, your family, we invite and have so many families in. And so we would just love to be able to say, Come on in, we will teach you how to do things and you will be making a huge impact. And you will get part of that soul need back that that deep piece within you that wants to do good for other people. You just might be out of practice or you might not be in the habit as much as you were anymore. We would just love to see more volunteers coming in through our doors and joining us in the mission.

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Molly Claire 20:58

Yeah. And I think, you know, you said the word intentional and I think that's it. It's making the decision to do it. I mean, I have a hard time believing that anyone's going to go and do the pack and then say, boy, that was a waste of time. Like I really regret doing that, right? It's more like, why don't I do this more often? This was so easy. This was so meaningful. And so I think it is just the decision to go and to do it. And, you know, as you were talking, I was thinking about, you know, my own teenager, because I know like as parents, we want to help to teach our kids, right? To think outside of themselves and life now is, you know, so different. And for many people, you know, I can say for my kids, life has been much easier than it was for me. And it's like, you know, life's pretty easy and we can take things for granted and not really remember like all that we have and the importance of looking out for and helping others. So it's a really incredible opportunity, I think, you know, for that with our kids.

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Lisa Stender 22:00

For sure. And that's what we want is we want to instill in the next generation this idea of empathy and compassion of caring for one another. And one of the best ways we can do that is giving of our time and service. And so, you know, whether it's packing meals that feed my starving children, or it's working, you know, in your local community garden, or watching out for your elderly neighbor or somebody that might need a little bit more support during that time, that installation of caring deeply for people, it doesn't always have to be grandiose gestures. It doesn't have to be big, it can be in the little and small things. And quite frankly, I think that those are probably the easiest to do, we just have to make up our mind to see the world around us to recognize the needs and then to kind of look within our own two hands or own selves and just say, what could I do to help meet that need. And that's, that's one of the biggest things that that I try to teach my kids too, is you can make a difference, even if you feel like you don't have a lot, you know, what does the Starbucks cost and could you take your Starbucks money for this week and come in and pack meals? And yes, you can. Yes, you can. You can take some of those things and look at as a gift of love and service to people around you. And I think that by doing that we help instill those generations of kids to come that will be leading in our world in the future. And I don't want to miss that. I don't want to miss that in my children's lives. I don't want to miss that in the lives of the communities that serve with us here in the US. And we know that it means so much to the people who receive our food.

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Molly Claire 23:41

Mm hmm. Yeah. Mm hmm. Well, this is this is such a great conversation. And I just what I want to do is, right now, I want to talk in practical terms. So everyone's excited, right? I'm just assuming you're all excited, you're all ready to go. You know, whether it's volunteering your time, financial resources, making purchases, and I know, I'm just going to mention this, too. I know, around the holidays, I'll get something in the mail, right, that has different things that you can buy for Easter gifts or holiday stuff. And they're just they're, it's just amazing to me how easy you have made it for people to give and give in a way that actually has an impact. So share a little bit more of the people that are listening. Where do they go? What do they do? What options are available to them? Sure.

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Lisa Stender 24:33

Sure, so fmsc.org is our website location and that's probably the easiest way to find all sorts of information about who we are, what we do about our partners, where we serve, about our marketplace and signing up for volunteer shifts. So I would say that's your one-stop shop. You can also find us on social media. So we are active on Instagram and a variety of other, LinkedIn is another one. So just a variety of different social media platforms as well that tell little tidbits and snippets of the work that we do. And then from there, I would just encourage people to explore if you want to get to know us a little bit better. We also have our marketplace items up on our website. And as you had said, Molly, there are so many beautiful artisan-crafted things and it's fun to gift them. Most of my shopping, my family knows this about me. They know that they'll be receiving something from fmsc because it is, hey, you get to have a beautiful item. And then you also have helped provide meals through that gift. And one of my favorites is our Haitian clay mugs that are on our website. In Haiti, when I had started interacting with FMSC, we had learned that people were taking the clay from the ground moms and they were creating what we call a dirt biscuit. And they might add a little bit of salt and pepper to the biscuit. They might add a little bit of oil to the biscuit. They would allow them to dry out in the open air and then they would sell them at the market. And dirt is not a food source. Dirt is not a nutrient source. And what they were doing is meeting a need. And the need that they were meeting is that there are moms and families, grandmas, dads, that had to send their kids to bed hungry and hunger hurts. And when your belly is hungry, you can't fall asleep. And so they were selling these in the market, not because of the nutritional value or food value, but because they made your body feel like it was full. And that to me was heartbreaking. I was volunteering with my oldest son who was in third grade at the time. And I just looked at him and I thought, I don't have to buy a dirt biscuit to feed you. And that moms would have to make this choice. It was really, really hard and impactful. We employed artisan partners and the Haitian dirt is turned into mugs and all sorts of other beautiful items, jewelry and different pieces like that. It is signed on the bottom by the artisan that created it. And so I just think that's a story. It's such a redemptive story. And so when I hold a mug in my hand, which is also by the way, one of the most comfortable mugs I've ever had, I love coffee. Don't take that mug from me. You think about that and you think about what the dirt was made for. And you think about what it is being used for. And I think about the moms that are able to send their kids to school because of the money that they're making to buy uniforms, to quite honestly build homes for their kids. One mom was so proud that she was able to build a bathroom, an enclosed bathroom in Haiti for her son who was becoming a teenager and she wanted to give him that dignity. And I think $25 for a mug and it's beautifully crafted. It's one of so many stories, Molly. Like I could share so many stories, but I just think there's nothing that matches that type of dignity and that type of support. It provides meals and it's something beautiful that just allows you to experience a small part of FMSC. And we have 2,700 marketplace artisan partners around the world that are paid a fair wage and create beautiful items that we get to enjoy here.

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Molly Claire 28:29

Amazing. Lisa, thank you so much for all you do. I know you do so much. And I know that you do it all with your heart and your soul. And I'm grateful to you for making it a little easier for the everyday person to contribute and be a part of making such a big difference.

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Lisa Stender 28:51

Oh my goodness, it is the work of my lifetime and it is an absolute pleasure and just a deep love. Seeing people thrive, whether they're packing meals or they work with us or we're in communities, we have seen lives changed. We call it both sides of the bag, the people that pack our meals and join us in that and help fund the meals and the people that receive the meals. It is really just a beautiful way to embrace our humanity, to show and demonstrate love and care for one another and then to teach future generations about what that means.

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Molly Claire 29:29

Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. You know, as we finish up, I just want to say oftentimes, you know, as I'm speaking to you all week after week, one of the things that I say over and over again is some version of hope, belief, possibility, and feeling, knowing that sense that what you want in your life and your business matters and is possible. And I think it can be easy for, I know I can say this for me, it can be easy for me to think that I am so different from someone on the other side of the world who doesn't have access to food. But something that really hit me at the recent event is that part of the beauty and the magic in this work, that is a shared piece of this for all of us, just like all of us need that hope, need to know that something more is possible. Every other human being does as well. And that's one of the things that really stuck out to me that the work you're doing is doing. Yes, it is saving their lives physically. Yes, it is allowing them to thrive. And it is giving them that hope that we all need, that something more is possible.

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Lisa Stender 30:49

It so, so is. We are way more alike than we are different. The same hopes that you have for your children are the same hopes that moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas around the world have for their kids. The difference is access to food or access to jobs or education. But the human experience is still the human experience and that has to be where it starts. It has to start with valuing life and valuing love and being able to figure out how can we share what we have, how can we share resources, because we're not different than the people around the world. Yeah, we're really not. We're really not.

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Molly Claire 31:31

Yeah. Thank you, Lisa, so much. Thank you, all of you, for being here. Please go to the website, find any way that you can be a part of this incredible, incredible organization. I just can't say enough good things about it. And so go, go right now, go to the website. All right. Thanks, everyone. And I'll talk with you next week. And thanks again, Lisa.