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Five Year Partner TIAA reaches 1 Million Meal Milestone

on  March 13, 2019

It’s always exciting when one of Rise Against Hunger’s partners reaches a meal packaging milestone “” especially when its a group that has shown dedication to our mission for years. Our partners and volunteers are a huge part of the Rise Against Hunger family. They truly are the reason we are able to send millions of meals to people in critical need and impact lives worldwide.On March 4, TIAA, our dedicated partner since 2014, packaged their 1 millionth Rise Against Hunger meal “” that’s 1 million hopes and dreams for people who need them most. One million chances of breaking the cycle of poverty and ending world hunger for good. More important than the meals themselves are the actual lives they will impact. It’s estimated that 1 million Rise Against Hunger meals can nourish about 20,000 lives, meaning 20,000 people have a chance at a better future because of the dedication of our partner.

Hundreds of TIAA volunteers took a break from their busy Monday to package meals in TIAA’s Charlotte location where the celebration was held.
TIAA officers passed the one millionth meal to Rise Against Hunger’s founder, Ray.
1 million meals made for an exciting Monday. Many of these volunteers have packaged meals with Rise Against Hunger and TIAA for several years.
Three cheers for partners across the globe like TIAA who are taking us another huge step closer to ending hunger. These heroes can add a new title to their resumes: Hunger Champion.Visit our Get Involved page to learn more about hosting a Rise Against Hunger event for your group or office.

About the Author

Maddie Laing is the PR and Communications Specialist on the Rise Against Hunger Marketing Team. Maddie manages communication between Rise Against Hunger and news outlets across the globe.

More Posts by Maddie Laing

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We’re looking forward to working together! To learn more about hosting a meal packaging event, complete the interest form, and a Rise Against Hunger team member will be in touch soon to guide you through the planning process. Together, we can end global hunger — one meal at a time.

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.