What an Incredible Year 2024 Has Been. Check Out Our Biggest Impact Moments Worldwide!

on December 19, 2024

What an incredible year 2024 has been for Rise Against Hunger, thanks to the work of our dedicated community of Hunger Champions (like you!). Not only have you packaged millions of meals and generously donated to support our mission, but you’ve also reached people in need in communities worldwide, like in the Philippines and Kenya, ensuring long-term food security. You engaged in our annual Chef Showdown culinary cookoff, which brought together six talented chefs in honor of World Food Day. But that’s not all. YOU also inspired country music star Tim McGraw to feature Rise Against Hunger in his new hit song “Hurt People Helping People” lyric video to spread the word about our vision of a world without hunger.

Keep reading to learn more about our biggest moments from our Global Member locations!

India: Celebrating a Decade of Growing the Movement to End Hunger

Rise Against Hunger India celebrated its 10th Anniversary! From providing meals through school feeding programs to responding to emergencies and empowering communities through agricultural development, hunger relief initiatives across India have impacted more than 3 million people over the past decade. On the horizon, Rise Against Hunger India is committed to supporting nearly 200 communities to become sustainably food secure and resilient against climate hazards and other vulnerabilities through its new hunger-free villages initiative.

Since 2014, over 65,000 Hunger Champions have volunteered, 95 corporate partnerships have developed and 332 nonprofit partnerships have formed. These efforts have led to the distribution of 34 million meals to people facing food insecurity. As a result, your support has provided hope, nutrition and education for students, self-sufficient futures for local farmers and villages, and improved health for mothers and their children. It starts with a meal, and it starts with you!

Italy: Kraft Heinz Partnership Helps Pave the Way Toward Long-term Food Security

Rise Against Hunger Italia participated in the CSR and Social Innovation Fair, an international event hosted at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, on October 10. This three-day event provided businesses and organizations with valuable opportunities to analyze and discuss strategies and tools for advancing sustainability. Seminars, thematic meetings, and “Meet the CSR Leaders” sessions engaged more than 270 organizations.

During the event, Rise Against Hunger Italia joined the panel discussion “Profit and Nonprofit: When Collaboration is Win-Win” alongside President of The Kraft Heinz Foundation Andrea Budelli to showcase their decade-long partnership. Since 2013, Kraft Heinz has supported Rise Against Hunger’s food assistance and sustainable agriculture programs, benefitting children and families affected by food insecurity worldwide. This partnership also fosters a sense of belonging and pride among Kraft Heinz employees engaged in the activities.

Malaysia: Sunway Group Hosts Southeast Asia’s Largest Meal Packaging Event

In partnership with Rise Against Hunger Malaysia, longstanding corporate partner Sunway Group hosted one of Southeast Asia’s largest single-day meal packaging events in September in honor of their 50th-anniversary celebration. At the Sunway Pyramid Convention Center in Selangor, Malaysia, more than 1,200 volunteers, including Sunway Group employees, students from their education divisions and other local business partners, worked together to package 500,000 meals.

Since 2014, Sunway Group has packaged 2 million meals with the support of thousands of hunger champions, who have contributed over 30,000 volunteer hours through their Sunway For Good initiative. The initiative focuses on community enrichment by furthering the vision of a world without hunger, helping families lead active, healthy lives fueled by the nourishment they need for proper growth and development and improved access to the resources they need to thrive.

Philippines: Newly Redesigned Jeepney Kitchen in Honor of World Food Day

In collaboration with the Far Eastern University Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts, Rise Against Hunger Philippines launched its newly redesigned jeepney kitchen. The jeepney is a mobile food bank with a fully equipped kitchen that serves freshly cooked meals for people facing food insecurity in metro Manila and the surrounding areas. University students, faculty and staff provided their fine art skills to create and paint a new design on the jeepney inspired by the Filipino festivals, local culture and cuisine.

This project had so many benefits: raising awareness for ending hunger, generating action in honor of World Food Day, October 16, and enabling the university community to learn more about Rise Against Hunger and its impact in the Philippines. On the launch day of the new design, student and faculty volunteers prepared and distributed more than 300 nutritious meals to at-risk individuals in a nearby community. There’s no doubt that this creative partnership is making a lasting impact!

South Africa: 2 Million Meals Packaged in Honor of Nelson Mandela’s Legacy

To honor Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy of commitment to equality and justice, Rise Against Hunger Africa and members of the Rise Against Hunger U.S. team hosted several meal packaging events in July. Encouraging local businesses and the community to engage in 67 minutes of service to commemorate the 67 years Mandela fought for social justice, volunteers worked together to package an astounding 1 million meals in just three days from July 17-19.

Over the entire month, Rise Against Hunger Africa packaged an impressive 2.7 million meals. More than 11,500 volunteers and 115 corporate partners generously volunteered their time in Mandela’s honor. These meals reached children at early childhood development programs in South Africa to ensure their access to quality education and nutrition. This remarkable achievement embodies the spirit of unity and service that Mandela Day represents.

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.