By, Gloria Liu
Not every child in the world has the privilege to play ‘trick or treat’ on Halloween’s Day. In the underdeveloped countries, children crave for food rather than a candy. Today, China Entrepreneur Network (CEN) volunteered to join the Christian non-profit organization – Feed My Starving Children to help these needy children. Twenty-eight T-birds drove to Tempe and spent two hours packaging food for African children.
Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a non-profit Christian organization committed to feeding God’s children. The approach is simple: children and adults hand-pack meals specifically formulated for malnourished children, and FMSC ship these meals to nearly 70 countries around the world. Across United States of America, many companies such as Safeway and schools such as Thunderbird School of Global Management actively involve their staff and students in this program, packaging food as well as donating money.
Kyle Luo, a senior MBA said that this was the second time he attended the volunteer activity here at Thunderbird. For Kyle, it was very meaningful because he could physically do something to help improve the health of nutrition-deprived children. ‘It just feels great to know that the food we packaged today can sustain the life of 76 children for a year.’ Iris, a senior MS Global Finance student said.
A month prior to the activity, CEN sent out invitation to its club members and received more than thirty valid responses. But some students did not make it as they had conflicts in their schedule. For those who made it on Halloween, CEN prepared simple brunch for these volunteers and arranged seven cars to commute. Many international students took part in this activity, quoting that CEN offered a terrific opportunity for them to engage in community service.
Finding a way to give back to the society – seems to be the need for Thunderbird students. Leaders today are not only supposed to succeed at their businesses, but should also create sustainable prosperity for the world. And one way to achieve this ambitious goal is to simply participate in a charitable activity, and to lead by example.