For many, the holiday season is a chance to spend time with family and loved ones, often coming together to celebrate over a special shared meal. But for the many who experience hunger, the holidays can mean a choice between food, essentials for daily living, or a joyful season. In the U.S., 1 in 7 children lives in food-insecure households, not knowing where their next meal will come from.
As a part of our Nutrition for Zero Hunger initiative, we are proud to work with organizations like Feed the Children to support struggling families in need. This holiday season, Herbalife Nutrition employees and independent distributors joined together to give back and support a hopeful holiday season for kids and their families.
Sharing Our Purpose: A Holiday Food Drive and Acts of Service
Food and essentials (like laundry detergent, shampoo, toothpaste, and lotion) are critical during the holiday season. To help this need, we hosted a food drive across our offices in the U.S. and collected more than 2,100 pounds of food for those in need. We also joined volunteer events across the country to serve nutrient-dense meal replacement shakes to homeless communities, sort and pack food and essentials to be shipped across the country and joined local community events to hand out food and meals directly to families.
In addition, through the end of the year, we are also supporting Feed the Children’s important work to feed children and families by hosting a special promotion of a Nutrition for Zero Hunger T-shirt, with all proceeds donated to Feed the Children. Our employees, independent business owners, and customers can join in and help give back and share their support.
Three Families Share Their Stories
Hunger and food insecurity are not distant problems. Hunger is still a critical challenge and may even impact those around you in ways that might not be obvious. Those who are impacted by hunger and food insecurity are often your neighbors, friends, and others close to you. To these families, giving back means everything.
Here are a few stories about some of the families Feed the Children has helped. Each portrays just how much of a difference sharing food can make:
Kate and Saundra
Kate is a senior adult raising her granddaughter Saundra, doing her best to make a good life for her. Sadly, they often run out of food at the end of the month, no matter how hard Kate tries to make ends meet. But there is good news for people like Kate and Saundra who are struggling with food insecurity.
Through its work with community partners, Feed the Children stands in the gap when things get tough. From the bulk food and supplies it sends to its community partners, to the community distribution events hosted in conjunction with corporate partners in cities across America, families are finding the support they need to help supplement what they have.
Lucy, Al, and Their Daughters
Lucy’s husband Al was a roofer who slipped and fell onto a concrete slab. He was in the hospital for two weeks. Without any support or assistance, they lost their home and their car. Al went back to work as soon as he was able to use crutches, instead of waiting the 6-9 months his doctors told him he needed to recover. But he wasn’t healed and experienced a lot of pain.
He told us it didn’t matter, and he added, “My wife and kids are everything I’ve got. I mean, they’re everything.” During this tough time, their two little girls, Alice and Susan, went to bed hungry sometimes. That’s why Feed the Children works so hard to provide food, essentials and hope to families when they need it most.
Kim and Her Two Daughters
Kim is a mom with two daughters. She works hard to keep the heat on, pay the bills, and put enough food on the table to feed her family during the holidays. It’s not always easy. Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made. “There are times my children will eat first and I go without a meal just to make sure they’re okay,” she shared. “But how long can I continue doing that?”
Thanks to the support from its community and corporate partners, as well as all the individuals who make gifts to help struggling families like Kim’s, hope made its way into her home. “I barely had food in my cabinet when Feed the Children came and knocked on my door. Now I have a cabinet full of food.”
Our Shared Purpose
Herbalife Nutrition was built with the purpose to improve lives worldwide through access to good nutrition. And thanks to partners like Feed the Children, together we are working toward creating a world where everyone has access to quality food and nutrition.
To learn more about how you can support No Hunger Holidays and join us in our shared purpose, visit Feed the Children.org to donate, volunteer, and support.
Erin Richards-KunkelSr. Director, Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Social Responsibility
Erin leads the development and execution of global partnerships and corporate social responsibility initiatives for Herbalife Nutrition. Her background combines analytical and creative expertise with degrees in both biological sciences and journalism from the University of California, Davis and the University of Southern California respectively. Her love of storytelling, science, and social good comes together in her approach for engagement and holistic campaign strategy and development.