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Hunger Champion Vidya Vijjapurapu Is Growing the Movement and Inspiring Others

on  May 25, 2022

Growing up in India, Vidya Vijjapurapu witnessed firsthand the impact of food distribution for people facing hunger. She said, “It reached the hands of the poor directly or it was donated in temples where anyone had access to it.” Through her upbringing in India, she had a desire to help others and support people facing food insecurity.  Vidya first participated in a Rise Against Hunger Experience meal packaging event with her employer in Georgia. Packaging meals with her colleagues, the event resonated with her. She decided she wanted to get involved further. And she wanted others in her life to get involved, too. Vidya decided to host her own meal packaging event and invite her friends, family and neighbors to join. Hosting this meal packaging event was important to Vidya. After being inspired after just one meal packaging event, she wanted to bring awareness about the organization to her close connections. And she really rallied her network together — over 90 people registered for the event! “I am overwhelmed by the willingness from so many of my friends to participate,” she said. On a Sunday in late March 2022, Vidya and the volunteers gathered to package meals. Everyone, from adults to young children, was able to energetically play a part in the event. Within a few hours, they packaged 10,000 Rise Against Hunger meals for people facing hunger across the globe. Seeing her community collaborate to make an impact was very touching for Vidya. “If one other person got inspired like I did, the chain [of impact] expands faster,” she explained. And we couldn’t agree more with her! This is exactly why Growing the Movement is one of Rise Against Hunger’s four Pathways to End Hunger. When more people are aware and involved in serving those facing food insecurity, it makes a big difference. Whether that be through donating, volunteering at a meal packaging event, engaging in a virtual opportunity or just spreading the word online, it all contributes toward ending global hunger. “When it comes to helping, there is no little or big,” Vidya said. “It is all about the intent.”Vidya’s commitment to both serving others facing hunger and growing the movement by involving her network makes her an inspiring Hunger Champion! And she encourages others to join the movement to end global hunger. “Spread the word by hosting an event or take additional participants along where you are participating. It will be time and money spent well and the heart feels content.”

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About the Author

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.