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Rotarians Representing 170 Countries Gather in Hamburg to Put Service Above Self

on  July 3, 2019

Where do you find 25,000 people of all ages, from 170 countries, speaking dozens of different languages, all united by one motto of Service Above Self and committed to action to Be the Inspiration? From June 1-5, you would find them in Hamburg, Germany, at the 110th Rotary International Convention.Rise Against Hunger was one of over 100 guests at the convention, with a vendor booth in the Convention’s House of Friendship. As a first-time member of the Rise Against Hunger convention team, I got to experience the excitement and energy as Rotarians from around the globe engaged with one another, to enhance their skills, make connections and identify service project opportunities for the year ahead.Over 1,200 Rotarians stopped by the Rise Against Hunger booth to learn about our work to make zero hunger possible. Rise Against Hunger has packaged nearly 500 million meals since 2005; Rotarians have packaged 30 million of those meals.Rise Against Hunger Experience events offer Rotarians the opportunity to do a hands-on international service project without leaving their hometowns. These are membership-building events that provide public image enhancement for the club and are a great youth service opportunity. When Rotary clubs engage with Rise Against Hunger, they also support Rotary’s Six Areas of Focus (Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution, Disease Prevention & Treatment, Water and Sanitation, Maternal and Child Health, Basic Education and Literacy, Economic & Community Development). Together we transform lives.A convention highlight was a visit to the House of Friendship by Gerd Müller, German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, and Rotary International President-Nominee Holger Knaack. They made a special stop at the Rise Against Hunger booth, and each assembled a meal package. During his remarks to the convention attendees, Minister Muller referenced Rise Against Hunger, pointing to Rise Against Hunger as delivering a high impact to our beneficiaries.Those five days in Hamburg gave Rise Against Hunger the opportunity to showcase our work and explain the impact of our meals to a targeted audience of community leaders from around the world. The end result will be countless nutritious meals packaged by Rotarians globally for people in need.Are you inspired to get your club involved? Visit our Rotary and Rise Against Hunger page to find out more!

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To find out more about meal packaging and how to organize your own event, fill out the form and a Rise Against Hunger team member will contact you to start planning. If you’ve connected with our team or filled out this form previously, no need to submit it again. A Rise Against Hunger team member will be in touch soon!
 

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About the Author

Janet Newcomer is Civic Relationship Manager for Rise Against Hunger. She joined the team in 2019.

More Posts by Janet Newcomer

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.