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Mayors of Birmingham and Hoover, Alabama Join Ismaili CIVIC to Package Meals and Impact Lives Around the World

on  August 11, 2021

On a Saturday in mid-July, Ismaili CIVIC (formerly known as I-CERV), an organization dedicated to mobilizing volunteers in the Shia Ismaili Muslim community to serve and support others, held its inaugural service event in the southeastern United States — a Rise Against Hunger Experience meal packaging event! Over 50 volunteers from the Ismaili Council for the Southeastern USA through Ismaili CIVIC gathered in Birmingham, Alabama, to package 10,000 Rise Against Hunger meals. And the mayor of Birmingham, Randall Woodfin, and the mayor of Hoover, Frank Vincent Brocato, both came to show their support as well, sharing a few words and helping to package some meals.If we had to pick one word to describe this event, it would have to be unity — both the unity of the organizations involved and the unity of the volunteers as they came together to serve others. “I think what you all are doing today is an example and commitment and a sense of urgency of putting people first,” said Mayor Woodfin. Mayor Brocato added, “So many wonderful things happen in our world because of volunteers.”Driven by the common purpose of supporting those facing hunger, the event’s Ismaili CIVIC volunteers worked in shifts to package soy, dehydrated vegetables, rice and micronutrient packets into bags. A gong rang out whenever another 1,000 meals were packaged of the event’s overall 10,000-meal goal, each time invigorating the volunteers and reminding them that they were helping to make an impact in the lives of people affected by food insecurity around the world. Mayor Woodfin and Mayor Brocato even had a chance to ring the gong and celebrate another 1,000 meals being packaged themselves!Dr. Behnoosh Momin, Member for Communications and Publications for the Ismaili Council for the Southeastern USA, shared that, for Ismaili CIVIC, “voluntary service to improve the quality of life of the communities of which we live — regardless of faith, gender and background — is part of our centuries old tradition of serving humanity.” It reminds us at Rise Against Hunger of something we’ve seen be true time and time again: volunteers will always be there to do what they can to support their local and global communities. By coming together to package meals, these Ismaili CIVIC volunteers helped make an impact in the fight to end hunger; the 10,000 nutritious meals packaged at this event will be shipped and distributed to communities across the globe.Like Ismaili CIVIC, your organization or group can make an impact in the lives of people affected by food insecurity. Host your own Rise Against Hunger Experience meal packaging event!

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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.