9 Things To Know About Rise Against Hunger

on February 11, 2020

It’s still early in the year, so we figured it is a great opportunity to reintroduce ourselves! Whether you’re already familiar with Rise Against Hunger and looking to deepen your impact, or this is your first time hearing about us and want to learn more, here are nine things to know about our organization!

Our mission is to grow a global movement to end global hunger by empowering communities, nourishing lives and responding to emergencies.

Over 800 million people worldwide go to sleep hungry each night, but there is enough food in the world to feed everyone. Therefore, it is possible to end global hunger, which is what we’re working toward!

Our mission supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2.

Ever wondered why we’re working to end hunger by 2030? It’s a goal put forth by the United Nations! The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals are “the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all” by addressing global challenges. And Goal 2 is Zero Hunger by 2030. Therefore, the United Nations acknowledges that ending world hunger by 2030 is vital for everyone’s future, and we’re proud to support that goal!

We were founded in 1998 under the name Stop Hunger Now.

The organization was founded by Ray Buchanan in 1998, originally under the name Stop Hunger Now, with the goals of providing food and aid to people in need around the world and responding to disasters.

In 2017, we changed our name to Rise Against Hunger.

Stop Hunger Now changed its name to Rise Against Hunger to reflect and encompass our growing portfolio of programs designed to address the root causes of hunger around the globe and empower communities to rise for decades to come.

We’re headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina…

We’ve been based in Raleigh since 1999 and our meal packaging program was first launched there in 2005 before expanding to other locations!

… but we have 28 locations across the United States and six internationally.

While we’re based in Raleigh, we have locations all over the country! We also have six international locations in Italy, India, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore and the Philippines. So, if you’re looking to host a Rise Against Hunger Experience meal packaging event, chances are we have a location near you!

We have four pathways we use to end global hunger!

Each pathway is designed to tackle different aspects and causes of hunger. The pathways are:

While long-term food security takes root, our Nourishing Lives pathway provides nutrition and encourages education through school feeding, vocational training and health clinics.
From droughts to floods, in conflict zones and political crises, the Responding to Emergencies pathway deploys food and aid in communities when it is needed most.
Our Empowering Communities pathway promotes improvements in agricultural production and rural livelihoods to help individuals increase their incomes and access to food.
Growing the Movement works to build awareness of world hunger and engages hundreds of thousands of volunteers and advocates each year.

In support of our Nourishing Lives pathway, we facilitate the packaging of meals for people affected by food insecurity.

Our meals are packaged by volunteers at Rise Against Hunger Experience meal packaging events. The volunteers work together to package meals comprised of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and essential vitamins and minerals into bags. These meals are then distributed to people facing hunger around the world!

As of 2020, we’ve packaged nearly 539 million meals with the help of our volunteers for distribution in 78 countries!

We’re so appreciative to all of our volunteers who have helped us package meals for people facing hunger! Learn more about where we work here.Want to get involved in Rise Against Hunger’s mission? Donate today to support our efforts as we work to end global hunger!

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.