Happy New Year! 2009

Hi it's Misty

Its a new year and that means a new project, a new team, and a new chance to change our world. I am so excited I cant wait to see what happens this year. I'm ready, are you? : )

The FEED movement has begun!!!

Praise the Lord and thanks to all for the support of FEED '08!!!

The results are in!!!

$100,000 was raised to impact 3 countries in southern Africa that are facing an extreme drought and famine (Zimbabwe, Swaziland, & Lesotho). The $100,000 was donated to World Vision, a Christian, humanitarian non-profit organization that is currently serving in over 100 countries around the world.

4 TONS of food was collected to jump-start the first viable food bank in Rutherford County. All the food items were donated to Greenhouse Ministries- a faith-based, interdenominational helps agency in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The FEED movement has only just begun...

COME OUT TO THE RUN/WALK!!! THE FOOD DRIVE!!! THE CELEBRATION SERVICES!!!

The time is NOW!!!

From 8-11am, on October 18th...at New Vision Baptist Church (1750 N. Thompson Ln., Murfreesboro, TN 37129)...is the 6-Mile Run/Walk for FEED

FEED FOOD DRIVE: Following the Run/Walk, it's time to go pick up all the bags (that are now hopefully filled with food!) that you distributed to your "neighbors" in the community. OR, if you have a bag and you want to bring it to New Vision Baptist, YOU CAN anytime between 6am-3:30pm on Saturday (October 18th) you can bring it by!

The FEED Celebration Concerts start at 6:45pm on Saturday night! Christian artist RUSS LEE will be leading a wonderful time of worship and celebration! The Celebration Services will continue on Sunday morning, October 19th, at NVBC, with music being lead by Christian artist, TODD AGNEW!!! The services on Sunday will be offered at 8am, 9:30am, and 11am.

You won't want to miss any of these events! Come support the FEED movement!!!

Bitter/Sweet :-) :-(

Yesterday FEED presented for Bridgestone/Firestone in Lavergne. It was kind of last minute, I have to admit, but it was really special for many reasons. One was that we all pretty much figured that this was gonna be our last presentation as the FEED team of '08. I know, I know, pretty depressing but we had to face it. Now of course this doesn't mean that FEED is done, heck no! Feed will never be complete and there is so much work left to be done. We started it and it's up to others to receive the "torch of Feed" and continue our mission until Jesus comes back. So, presenting for Bridgestone was a bitter/sweet deal but I feel like it was one of our strongest presentations. We all hit what needed to be said and I really felt like we were doing it for the first time again(only better), it was an awesome feeling. I felt like we were strong, clear, commanding, and persuasive. At the end we really got to sit down w/ Shelly, one of the people we were presenting for and talk to her a little bit about how they could still be involved for years to come. We wanted to make sure that we started a great relationship w/ Bridgestone that would help other teams in the years to come. She had to admit to us that she really didn't think they would be able to donate much to us at all, but that she was going to do all she could to get the word out about us and pass it on to other business and companies. She was really sweet and actually took a few food drive bags w/ her because she wanted to help out w/ the food drive in her own neighborhood. Feed '08 isn't done yet, but we are coming to a close and we need your help now more than ever. I know we keep saying that ,but we really mean it now! It's gonna take the community of Murfreesboro to come together and fight for a cause bigger than ourselves. Come on guys, lets finish this thing right!
-A.G.

Check out our FEED news story posted on this great website!
Networking is amazing!
Thanks goes out to John at HobNobLocal.com of Murfreesboro!

http://www.hobnobmurfreesboro.com/page/123/index.v3page

The FEED FOOD DRIVE for Greenhouse Ministries has begun!!!

Pass out those bags!!!

Meet those neighbors!!!

Collect that food!!!

You can leave the bags on your neighbors front doors, maybe leave them in the mailboxes, or actually meet your neighbors and tell them what this is all about! Your neighbors may want to go ahead and fill the bag with food and give it back to you on the spot! It will save both of you time in the long run really!

Do you need to know more about who we're donating all this food to?


It is GREENHOUSE MINISTRIES, a local, interdenominational helps organization. Read all about them at www.greenhousemin.org

The NET Meeting: 10/7/08

I had the opportunity to present FEED to 30 different business owners in the Murfreesboro community on Tuesday morning at The Net. I was given 1 minute to give the whole story of FEED...what a challenge! Everyone seemed very interested, and I expressed our hope to have the opportunity to present our project to anyone willing to listen! After every business owner gave their 1-minute commercial, I also had a chance to give a "public service announcement." During this time, I shared about our FEED Food Drive for Greenhouse Ministries, the 6-Mile Run/Walk for FEED event, and the FEED Benefit Concerts. Two different business men came up to me after the meeting offering their services to help advertise for FEED on their websites. Also, a lady offered her services to help with the food drive! I gave her 30 FEED bags that she is going to keep at her stores for people to take and fill with food, bring them back to her store, and then she is going to bring them to New Vision! She also took 2 FEED posters to put up in her store windows. We have been blessed with many opportunities to spread the word about FEED here in Murfreesboro!

Let the FEED movement begin!

We have a Firstgiving site!

Hey everybody!

I created a site through Firstgiving that is just another way to get the word out about FEED. Our site is under the wing of Team World Vision. In the future, we will use it as a way for people to give financially. However, this year, I am asking you to NOT click the "sponsor me now" button because the finances will go to the wrong place; instead, read the info about us, and the address to mail checks to and who to make checks out to are listed on the site! Keep spreading the word about FEED 08!
We only have FOUR DAYS until the food drive andonly ELEVEN DAYS until the Run/Walk,
the end of the Food drive,and the first FEED Benefit Concert!
GET EXCITED!!!
Visit our Firstgiving site at the following address: http://www.firstgiving.com/FEED08

The DQ prayer man

Thursday night we presented for Campus Crusades @ MTSU and it went great! We talked to a lotta people afterwards and many seemed really motivated about helping w/ the food drive and attending the run/walk. Afterwards we went to Dairy Queen to hang out w/ some of the people for a minute( I won a FREE small blizzard!) While we were waiting for everyone to still arrive Misty, Kelly and I started talking. I'm gonna be very blunt and honest w/ you right now because I want ya'll to know how we were feeling at the moment. We felt down in the dumps, discouraged, stressed, confused and hopeless. It's one of those things where you just hit that point and you're like, that's it, I can't do this anymore, and I just wanna be done with all of it! Honestly I believe that was satan trying to discourage us and tear our team apart. We hadn't been praying enough and I think in our little human minds we overloaded ourselves forgetting who has ultimate control in this movement... GOD! Guys it's so easy to get caught up in the goal, and goals are awesome, I know we wouldn't be where we are now w/o one, but it's so crucial to also remember how far you've come. Look at where you were and where you are now. Forget for a second about your goal and who's watching, when you realize how far you've come, how much you've learned, and how well you've done it, it just makes you wanna reach your goal that much more! At the end of the day all I want is to say I gave my all, I pushed myslef to every limit possible and I can't feel bad about myself at all. I've done what God in His control wanted me to do and that right there is all I need to know! Meanwhile, while all this was going through my head and I was devouring my cookiedough blizzard(yum!), a guy came up to Misty and I wanting to know what we were all about. So we gave him the whole spill, trying to be as enthusiastic as possible about it but still feeling like two dummies. He nodded his head a couple of times and then shocked both of us by asking if he could pray for us right there in DQ! We were speechless but somehow managed to make some kind of eye contact I guess and then we bowed our heads and each grabbed one of his hands. His prayer was so powerful, it seemed as though God had told him exactly what to pray about and what we needed. By the end of it we were all weepy and snot-faced but I can tell you right now we felt like we had been lifted onto cloud 9, no like cloud 90! Unfortunatley through our clumsiness we never got his name but we don't really need it, we'll never forget him and I'm so thankful for how God sends certain people, even strangers to just blow you away. Never underestimate the power of God guys!
-A.G.

CHECK IT OUT!!!

www.murfreesboropost.com

look on the right hand side under the NEWS links...6th one down is FEED!!!

STARBUCKS HAS JOINED THE MOVEMENT!

Hey guys!
   So I know I've been bugging Brian a lot lately about trying to get the FEED movement started in or local Starbucks community here in the Boro. ;-)  I wanted to give you guys the update so far. I talked with the manager of the Sbux on Church St. (who had already heard about FEED from a partner at her store who goes to the Point - she apparently already put up posters!) and she is sending out an email to all the other managers in the area about starting a canned food drive at each store! We'll just make up some signs and place baskets at each store, and encourage both customers and partners alike to drop off items which will then be picked up Oct 17th/18th. :-)  Yea! 

Deanne Batorski- Starbucks Employee

It's a FEED invasion! Ahhhh!

Whewww! We are exhausted beyond measure. But for a good reason, this morning Kelly, some friends of mine, my sister and I went and hung up more posters today. We went insane! We hit some stores on Memorial, we hit just about every store in The Oaks shopping plaza where Five Guys Burgers, 2 cute, and Moes and all that stuff is. We hit the Avenue( Thanks Caroline!), some stores on Broad Street; basically guys we almost got M'Boro covered! Go out today or later maybe to the Avenue or Moe's and check out the posters in their windows. I can't believe how many stores let us put up posters, it's all about asking. We thought for sure some stores wouldn't let us but we went in anyway and they were some of the most willing people. You never know if you don't ask! But there are still some more places we need to go and we still need some more help. I don't want you to be able to go anywhere and not see a FEED poster. So, whenever we go out to post more we'll make sure you know and then it's up to you to come to help. We're expecting a lotta people and some vendors at the walk/run so make sure you're there, walking or running or helping in some way!
A.G.

Downtown M'Boro is covered!

Yayyyyyy!!! I'm so excited and happy right now ya'll! My sister and a friend of mine went downtown today and hung up FEED posters like crazy! Almost every store down there took one and only about 2 or 3 didn't. I can't believe how willing they were to hang up our posters! It took us about an hour and a half, but that was because there were only 3 of us. I bet if we had say, 10 or 15 people we could get this town literally dipped in posters! I want to thank everybody who let us put up posters in their store, you don't know how much you've helped just by hanging a poster. It's important to get the word out! At a law office we went into we talked w/the receptionist and she seemed really interested in what we were doing. So I gave her the whole spill about how we were raising $50,000 for Africa, how we wanted to do something for our own community, and how the food drive was to honor the 6 miles that the average African family has to walk each day just to get filthy water etc. and on top of all that how we were just 5 students doing this. She was shocked! Her mouth was wide open and she had tears in her eyes. She has made my day, and as a bonus she took a few more posters to take to some other business she knows and shops at, it was really awesome. So, tomorrow I think we're gonna go hang up some more posters probably down Memorial Blvd. and I need your help because obviously it's gonna take more than 3 people. I'll try and get the times and meeting place blogged up later. Please come and help only if it's for 15 minutes!
-A.G.

Just one more reason to be on time!

Ok so this morning was super crazy! We were scheduled to present for Blackman's FCA and Kelly was running a little late, well more like 15 minutes late( she overslept). So I call her to wake her up and she's like, "Oh my gosh! I overslept!". We're on our way to Blackman trying to get in touch with people to let them know we'll be late, but no one picks up (answer your phones people!). We decide in the car that we wont present we'll just pass out the posters and cards and encourage them to come to our events. As we pull up to Blackman we can't really find a parking spot so we end up parking like in some deserted lot behind the gym. We run, literally run across the parking lot into the school and realize that, 1. We didn't really sign in, so yeah we broke in and out of Blackman, and 2. We don't know where the heck FCA is even meeting! Quickly Kelly asks an awesome student who seemed just ecstatic to be at school that morning where they met and thankfully it was just straight ahead. We dash into the room and right into their closing prayer! We both hit our breaks and took the moment to catch our breaths. We apologized and kind of stood there looking like idiots, thankfully Kalen Johnson snapped some sense into us and told us we could still pass out the rave cards. No one seemed too mad at us and Kalen( aka Super Kalen!) had already explained to them what we were doing w/the run/walk and the food drive. So, that's how we broke into Blackman, busted in on FCA's prayer and cut a few people off in traffic, all before 8:30 in the morning! It's all for FEED people; all for FEED!
-A.G.

NVBC Youth & AWANA Presentations!

FEED '08 has 25 days left!!!

Tonight was a great experience for FEED to spread excitement amongst our church family at New Vision. The high school and middle school services were focused on FEED, including watching the brand new World Vision video that displays intense sights of young children and babies that are literally wasting away while I type. This is a video that shows the recently announced GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS that is taking our world by storm. FEED has become that much more important now that we are even more aware of the immense need. We had 2 awesome students from the youth group get up and present some startling statistics about our world and the need out there. After every student shared a statistic, the statement was consistently shared, "WITH YOUR HELP, WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. LET THE FEED MOVEMENT BEGIN." This is what FEED is about. We cannot let this opportunity slip through our fingers. We have thousands of dollars left to raise to make our goal, but more importantly than that, there are so many more people in our community that I know would love to get involved in FEED. SPREAD THE WORD! We have posters available, rave/info cards, press releases, donation request forms, Run/Walk sponsor forms, etc!!! Please ask any of the FEED team, Jeremy Lee, Brian Owen, or really anyone to see what YOU can do to join in with us!

Also, tonight we had the honor of speaking in front of hundreds of children in the AWANA's program at New Vision. Aaron had an enamored crowd of kids that he proceeded to pump up with excitement about joining the FEED movement. They were all given a can of food with the FEED logo on it and the note to bring canned goods back next week! They are going to be kick-starting our FEED food drive that will begin officially on October 11th! AWANA children's parents, we LOVE the excitement and energy your kids are bringing to FEED, and we hope you will encourage them in getting involved and being a part of each and every activity we will be doing on October 18th and 19th! We need your support as well!!!

Thank you so much to everyone for all the hard work and sacrifices you have made for FEED. God is all over this project, and I know He's going to blow us all away with the next 2 1/2 weeks we have left for FEED '08. Blessings to all!

~Kelly

Flying solo!

Hey just a little update! Tomorrow at 1pm FEED will be presenting for Webb School in Bell Buckle. Unfortunately only I(Amaris) will be able to make it beacause the others have school. So please pray for me, I'm pretty nervous because I've never had to present w/o the others. But many verses have come to my mind these past few days including; 1 Timothy 4:12, Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
And Philippians 4:13, I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.
I've known the verse in Philippians since I was a lil munchkin but I've never really had to apply it in my life, so It's really cool to remember that verse and then look back and see, hey, memorizing verses really is important! Who knew?Even thought the others wont be with me and I know they'll be praying for me, it's really nice to know that God will be with me, He has always been and He will always be.
-A.G.

Todd Agnew!!

Todd Agnew's Promotional photos!

New Logos

Check it out!

FEED loves BHS!

Hey ya'll earlier this morning we presented at Blackman and it went great. They were really open to listening and we just hope we left them w/the passion to get out and change their world. It was awesome! Thank you to all of you who were there, we appreciate your time and your attention!
-A.G.

Chewing gum

Well just a lil heads up, tomorrow we go to present for First Priority at BHS(woohoo!) and we're very excited about that so if ya'll could just keep us in your prayers that would be awesome. Keep up the tremendous job you guys are already doing. We seriously wanna see your facebook and/or myspace page profile pictures replaced with one of the 3 different FEED "logos". It's only for a little while and seriously guys, I mean come on, these aren't some dry, boring looking logos. These are awesome and we did that for a reason. So use like 'em like crazy! As soon as we get the posters in which should be very soon I hope(I'm crossing my fingers for tomorrow) I'll let ya'll know cause I know you are psyched about helping spread those out.
-A.G.

GO! Student Ministry rocks!

I just wanted ya'll to see a picture of how our own student ministry is giving their own money and time to support not, only FEED, but countries across the world that they have never even been to! I know we've said it multiple times but I feel like we could never thank you guys enough. All the support is so overwhelming for us and we appreciate how passionate you guys are about this. I am starting to realize that FEED is not just 5 students anymore, but it is also 200+ teenagers from New Vision who share our same dream. We are depending on you guys, keep up the awesome work. Keep filling those jugs and whatever you do, never underestimate the power of God through you, because with Him you can actually(go figure)! change your world! P.S. Go girls, we can do it, I wanna see those totals continuing to rise! Let's show those guys just how much competition we've got in our blood!
-Amaris

Media Opportunities

Ok so since we are getting so close to the big weekend its about time we kicked it into high gear and spread the word. With the connections I have made overe the past few years I am glad to say you could possibly be seeing the FEED team and everything that we are doing on a local news cast. As soon as we get our media press release done we will submit it to the news stations in Nashville such as Fox 17, channel 4, 5, and possibly 2. We are also hoping to have articles in the DNJ here in Murfreesboro as well as the Tennessean. This is something that we are very hopeful will happen and with everything that God has done for us so far in this long journey it just might happen.

Adam

World Vision's Emergency Meeting: GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS

Here we are honored to be taking a picture with the amazing Christian music artists, CeCe Winans and Margaret Becker! Although we were ecstatic to be meeting artists, label people, managers, etc., the topic at hand was the GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS; what a heartbreaking reality that the information, videos, and testimonies described. This meeting opened our eyes to the EXTREME IMPORTANCE of the work we have been doing and plan to continue doing in these last few weeks of this project. Remember though, FEED does not end October 19th at the end of our concert. It will continue for years to come- as a movement of justice and love and faith- and our passion to help save the millions suffering in the world around us will continue forever. Join with FEED to spread awareness about global poverty and ignite action against world hunger. We are just 5 students...but we ARE changing the world.

The man behind our posters...

Hey I just wanted to make a shout-out to Indie.bling who created our awesome posters,cards, event flyers, and especially our super awesome logo. We couldn't have done it better even if we tried. Mr. bling.(haha) has done a tremendous job in supporting us and we are so grateful for him. I haven't seen anyone do what he does with such a passion and talent, he is super-duper awesome! THANKS!

World Visions Release on Food Crisis

Hey guys and gals,

Many of you know we are partnering with World Vision to feed the hungry in South Africa, well we had a chance to sit in on a press conference at World Vision discussing the food crisis and we wanted to give you an idea of what's going on with other countries.

www.worldvision.org

Fact sheet on hunger and the global food crisis

More than 800 million people suffer from hunger and malnutrition, and World Vision is committed to raising increased resources — public and private — to overcome this tragedy. Food aid and development assistance are key tools to fight hunger and the food insecurity that causes chronic or emergency shortages of nutrition around the world.

Scale of the problem

• Since 2005, the world has experienced a dramatic surge in the price of many staple food commodities. The price of maize increased by 80 percent between 2005 and 2007, and has since risen further. Many other commodity prices also rose sharply over this period: milk powder by 90 percent, wheat by 70 percent and rice by about 25 percent. (World Bank)
• These grains are a staple of diets in much of the developing world. In low-income Asian countries, grains account for 63 percent of the average diet. In North Africa and 11 former Soviet republics, grains account for about 60 percent. In sub-Saharan Africa, the region most vulnerable to food insecurity, grains compose nearly half of the calories consumed. The share of grains in the diet is lowest — about 43 percent — in lower-income Latin America. (USDA)
• The poorest people spend roughly three quarters of their incomes on staple foods. (World Bank)
• Food riots have broken out in Haiti, Morocco, Yemen, Mexico, Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal and Uzbekistan. (The Guardian)
• Food crop prices are expected to remain high in 2008 and 2009 and then begin to decline as supply and demand respond to high prices; however, they are likely to remain well above the 2004 levels through 2015 for most food crops. (World Bank)

Impact on children

• Rising prices make millions of children more vulnerable to malnutrition, impaired growth and lack of education.
• Malnutrition is an underlying cause of half of the nearly 10 million deaths of children under 5 each year worldwide. It makes them more prone to, and likely to die from, diseases like pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and measles.
• Severe malnutrition in early childhood can also impair brain development and lead to stunted growth, which affects some 178 million pre-schoolers in developing countries.
• Rising food prices also risk derailing recent gains in reducing malnutrition. Between 1990 and 2005, the share of children under 5 with moderate and severe stunting fell from 33.5 percent worldwide to 24.1 percent. Food prices are not the main driver of malnutrition. However, to compensate for rising food prices, vulnerable households may purchase less food, or cheaper, but less nutritious, food. (World Bank)
• Malnourished women are more likely to be sick, have smaller babies and die earlier, resulting in high levels of infant mortality in areas where chronic hunger is a problem.

Impact on World Vision programs

• World Vision staff have seen access to food — and poor families’ ability to afford basic staples — deteriorate more rapidly in recent months as prices escalated in many communities where we work, for example in Haiti and Senegal.
• Food aid programs will continue to be affected by the new food prices.
• Humanitarian groups may have to substitute more expensive nutrient-fortified foods with cheaper, less nutritional bulk foods.
• Aid groups may have to reduce the geographical areas they serve with food and cut back on beneficiaries.

Todd Agnew and Russ Lee agree to perform October 18 and 19 for FEED CELEBRATION

Recording artists Russ Lee and Todd Agnew have agreed to donate their time to perform at our celebration event on October 18 and 19! Can you believe that? 

Russ Lee will be performing Saturday Night, October 18 at New Vision Baptist Church at 6:45 pm

Todd Agnew will perform Sunday Morning, October 19 at New Vision Baptist Church at 8:00 am, 9:30 am, and 11:00 am.

CeCe Winans supports FEED team during press conference!

On August 20th the FEED team was invited to participate in a press conference to get the word out about the Food Shortage Crisis around the world.  We were honored to meet many music artists, but we were blown away when CeCe Winans showed her support telling reporters about our cause.  THANK YOU CECE!

Presentation at Third Baptist Church and Bluegrass Baptist Church

Last month we made a presentation to two churches. Third Baptist Church let us do our presentation for their student leadership team. They offered to help us get the word out in the community. Also, we drove to Hendersonville, TN to present to Bluegrass Baptist Church. They were very supportive and offered to bring a group out to participate in our 6 mile Walk/Run on October 18th!

Presentation at Blackman High School

We are presenting at Blackman High School to the Timothy Club and the First Priority Club. We will let you know how it goes!

More than 852 million people in the world are malnourished - 799 million of them are from the developing world. More than 153 million of them are under the age of 5.

Crunch time!

Ok ya'll, I can't believe how excited I am about this. We just met w/ our youth minsters Brian and Jeremy and they have just encouraged us so much! It's amazing what God can do through 2 people. So, it's crunch time... like for real! We need your help now more than ever, just getting the word out about the food drive and the run/walk will help tremendously. And whenever we go out to hang up the awesome posters that we recently got made(thank you indie.bling!) I'll try to blog it up the day before or whatever so if you would like to join us and help, that would be an enormous amount of help! And any ideas you might have, businesses we can present for, ways we can advertise, or even just something as simple as telling you friends about what we're doing will make a difference. Now is the time, let's get this thing done right!
-Amaris

CoMiNg SoOn!!!

Hey EVERYONE! I need YOU!

OCTOBER 11TH, 2008 kicks off our food drive for Greenhouse Ministries in Murfreesboro, TN.
1. We need volunteers to take bags to their neighbors, friends,
businesses, etc.

OCTOBER 18TH can be considered a FEED MARATHON!
1. 8-11am: 6-mile RUN/WALK for FEED- this will be an awesome
event that you can support FEED by getting financial sponsors
for every mile you walk or run!
2. FEED food drive pick up following the Run/Walk- volunteers
needed to pick up the bags you dropped off!
3. 6pm: FEED benefit concert/celebration worship service- come
hear great music, worship, learn about global poverty, World
Vision, and see what God has done through FEED to save
thousands of lives!

OCTOBER 19TH is IT!
1. FEED Benefit Concert with Todd Agnew!!!
-Come celebrate the FEED movement, learn more about
poverty and World Vision, and worship with Christian artist,
Todd Agnew!

A $300 Blessing!!!

Hello Everyone!
God has blessed us with friends that want to support by sharing what FEED is about. One of those special friends is Jessica P. Jessica has been passing on the FEED movement to those around her, and by God's grace, she has recruited an anonymous giver who has donated $300 to FEED!!! We are blessed by all of you who have joined with us on this great journey to see God change the world. Thank you so much, Jessica, for supporting FEED, and for giving us hope that we can reach our goal.

6-Mile Run/Walk for FEED

The FEED team is hosting a 6-Mile Run/Walk event on OCTOBER 18th from 8-11am. Location is still being determined at this point. Although plans are still coming together, you can count on the Run/Walk happening on October 11th to raise money towards FEED's $50,000 goal. This event has the potential to be the biggest fundraising opportunity for FEED. We are asking participants to seek sponsors for every mile they walk or run, or make a personal donation as an entrance fee. For example, our challenge to the youth in our church ministry is to attain approximately $200 each in sponsorships total. We believe this amount is easily attainable by asking businesses and family members to sponsor you $10 per mile. $10/mile x 6 miles = $60. $60 x 4 sponsors = $240! YOU can do it! We will also have entertainment, food, and t-shirts available at the event! The significance of walking and/or running the 6 miles is to honor the women and children in Africa that have to walk 6 miles just to provide water for their families' survival. Please come out and have fun while getting some exercise, support the FEED movement, and ultimately help save thousands of African lives.

Meet the team: Kelly Stewart

Hey everyone! My name is Kelly Stewart, and I have the privilege of serving as the leader of the FEED team. I am a senior Social Work major at Middle Tennessee State University. College has been a wonderful experience for me, and I am blessed to be part of the FEED movement. FEED is the biggest undertaking I have ever been a part of so far in my 21 years of life. I am honored that Jeremy Lee, the minister of students at New Vision Baptist Church, entrusted FEED to me and my team. We have seen God working in so many ways already. The experience that we have gained planning our presentation and presenting to various business owners and corporate representatives is invaluable. We have learned the power of networking, and have drawn very close as a team throughout this whole fund-raising process. Our desire is to see youth and individuals all over join the FEED movement and recognize the impact we can have on our world together. We live truly blessed lives, and we have the responsibility to help others less fortunate than ourselves. Through FEED, your $1 becomes $5 thanks to the U.S. Government and United Nations funding; AND, it only takes $2 to help one person through the work World Vision is doing. This means that just giving $1 will help more than 2 people! Please contact me at (615)260-0982 or kes3j@mtsu.edu if you are interested in helping in any way! Thank you so much for visiting our blog!

Meet the team: Adam Wells

Hey! My name is Adam Wells, and I will be a senior at Middle Tennessee State University this fall. I am a Sports Broadcasting major with the dream of one day working for ESPN. I am honored to be part of the FEED team. There is so much need in our world, and this project has given me the opportunity to meet the needs of thousands of people. I am thankful that God gave me the chance to serve on this team, and I am excited to see so many other people join along side us to help reach our goal of raising $50,000. World Vision is an awesome organization to support; they are doing great work all over our world. Please consider what your part in helping FEED could be! Everyone can play a part. Thanks!

General Mills- Our biggest supporter yet!

General Mills, FEED's first serious business presentation, has officially committed $2,000 to World Vision! Not only have they committed $2,000 from the plant in Murfreesboro, but they also want us to apply for a great deal more money from corporate General Mills! We are so excited about this new partner, and we want to thank General Mills, Murfreesboro plant, for being so generous and supportive of our project!

Dollar General donates $500!

Dollar General is donating $500 to FEED! This $500 will become $2,500 before it reaches the field! Be encouraged that although $500 is not $50,000 (obviously), it will help 1,250 people! Remembering the reason for our efforts is vital to keep us pushing forward! I believe the FEED team, along with our many supporters, has raised over $5,000 at this point! This translates to $25,000 to further the work of World Vision in Zimbabwe, Swaziland, and Lesotho. If you are reading this, please recognize the impact that YOU can have on our project. Every person has their sphere of influence. There are many business connections in each of our spheres of influence! We not only need your prayer and financial support, but we also need any business connections you have! Please contact me, Kelly Stewart, at 615.260.0982 or email me at kes3j@mtsu.edu. I am open to any comments, suggestions, contact info, t-shirt orders, etc!!! Thank you very much for visiting our blog. We are thankful for your support!

$250 from Gaylord Entertainment/ Freeman Decorating Co. - potential presentation

I wish I could say that Gaylord was able to give us $25,000, but we are thankful that they gave at all. We are able to add $250 to our FEED account, knowing that the $250 will eventually become $1,250 thanks to our grant match. We are learning that fundraising is a very difficult job; the experience that we have gained from presenting to these major corporations has been invaluable. I must say thank you in particular to Mr. Barry Rice at Gaylord Opryland for helping us make the connection with the right people at Gaylord Entertainment. Mr. Rice and my dad worked together back in the day, and I really appreciate his willingness to help our team with FEED. Not only has Mr. Rice connected us with Gaylord, but he has also provided connection to another major corporation, Freeman Decorating Co. I have just gotten off the phone with Mr. Mark Kafader, from Freeman Decorating Co. He will be speaking with the General Manager tomorrow, and will get back to me by the end of the week. Mr. Kafader also knew my dad, and has been very gracious to do what he can for FEED. I appreciate all of the support that we have received on this journey to impact our world through FEED. We are on our way to raising $50,000, but we still need a great deal of support to reach our goal. We also need to remember to give up control to the One who can truly make this happen.
God is good.

Meet the team: Hey I'm Aaron

Hey! I'm Aaron McGowen. I just graduated from LaVergne High School. I will be starting at MTSU this fall. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm going to major in radio and television broadcasting and I'm gonna minor in theater. When I first became a part of the Feed project I was really impressed with how everyone was just dedicated to making a difference right off the bat. The thing I think is most exciting about this project is that you don't have to have a special talent or know all the right people to be able to make a difference. Anyone and everyone can make a difference. It is very easy for anyone who feels led to give to do so and in the process save the lives of people in Southern Africa. I believe that God is going to do some amazing things in and through us if we will only let him.

Bob Parks Presentation

June 10th FEED presented to Mr. Bob Parks himself! First off, getting to present to him was such an honor, he is such a respected man in the community and also a very committed Christian. It was just Kelly, Aaron and I(Amaris) so we were a bit nervous trying to deal with who was going to to do which part but, I think it went very well. Mr. Parks promised us $1,000 on the spot! We couldn't believe it, it was kind of unexpected. And remember with our grant that $1,000 gets matched 5 times, so $1,000 turns into $5,000 instantly! WOW! He was so kind and told us how he was also very passionate about the suffrage of the African people, and wanting to making a change. So overall, it was an awesome experience and I'm sure we'll never forget it. We have only God to give the credit to, and Mr. Parks to thank immensely! This has definitely encouraged all of us and we hope it does the same for you.

VBS raises over $600!

During our church's Vacation Bible School( June 16-20) the kids have an annual contest, girls against boys, to see who can raise the most money for a certain mission trip or project. We as FEED were chosen as one of them! It was so amazing to see those kids so passionate and willing to give the little they had, and imagine our surprise when we learned they had raised over $600 in just five days! We were ecstatic and so were the kids. It was really quite humbling to see the kids walk up to the jugs and put in their little baggies of loose change they had collected, if they can do it, I think anyone can do it. We have so much to thank them for! And by the way... the girls won, again!!! :-)

Meet the Team: Hey I'm Amaris

Hi I'm Amaris and I'm a member of the FEED team. This fall I will be entering my sophomore year in high school, making me the youngest member of FEED. I have such a huge passion to help people in general but especially the people in Africa. Ever since I was a little kid I remember just wanting to meet the little African children you see on the commercials and in magazine ads. I wanted to play with them and make them my friends. I know, I was a little naive but I think that sparked something in me that continues to flourish everyday. Now I have the awesome oppurtunity to actually do something! It's sooooo exciting and I want everyone to know that they can experience the same kind of excitement and passion we all do. I don't know whether or not the South African people know what we're doing, but if I could tell them I would say, " Get ready because we're comin' and we're not stopping until we reach our goal of $50,000 and feed 125,000 people!" God has our back and He's in control of this whole mission, He sees all of us the same and I know it tears His heart to see His people starving and hurting. But He's not going to just sit back and watch, that's why our passion as FEED is to end world hunger. Please join me in making that difference. Anything you give will make a change!

FEED

Meet the Team: Hi Im Misty

My name is Misty I am a member of the FEED team. Starting next year I will be a senior in high school. My passion to be a part of this great opportunity for change started the night I sat in my Wednesday night youth service and was shown a short video. It was that video that changed the way I view what I often take for granted in my life like water and food always available to me. I learned that I could however still make a difference by giving what I could and still can I am making a dramatic difference to those who need it. I am overjoyed and excited to be a member of this team. I can not wait to see what God will do. I want to encourage you to also make a difference and give what you can. Remember that even a small gift can still make a change in a big way.

Youth Camp Snack Bar raises $400 for FEED!!!

NEWS IN: Campers returned today, Monday, June 9th, from camp out in East Tennessee. Word has it that the youth raised $400 for FEED by merely eating some snacks! This is an excellent example of how simple it is to raise a great deal of money without even having to give it a second thought! Everyone can give to FEED others--even by just feeding themselves! Please be encouraged that giving to help others does not have to be complicated, and anyone can do it! I hope that this exciting news will ignite others to do what they can- anything! get creative!- to help us meet our $50,000 goal to help World Vision have a huge impact on the people who are suffering in southern Africa. REMEMBER, the $50,000 we give will be multiplied FIVE TIMES through the grant money, and become $250,000, with the potential to help 125,000 people! AmAzInG!

Gaylord Entertainment Presentation!!!

I've decided to call the past few weeks the "calm before the storm." The FEED Team will be jumping into action next week as we have TWO big presentations set for Wednesday the 11th, and Friday the 13th. On Wednesday, June 11th, we have the honor of presenting for representatives of Gaylord Entertainment! I am very thankful for Mr. Barry Rice over at Gaylord Opryland who helped us set up this appointment. The presentation on Friday, June 13th, is for the Dollar General Corporation as I have previously listed.

Family and friends are very important to start and keep a movement going. We, the FEED Team, need all of our friends' and families' support to accomplish our project goals and to truly have an impact on our community and world. We not only need your support through encouragement and connections, but we also need your prayers! Thank you for going on this journey with us!

Dollar General Presentation

We are set to give a presention for Dollar General business representatives on June 13th, 2008. :)

General Mills Presentation!!!

On May 12th, 2008, we presented for 2 business representatives of General Mills at the Murfreesboro, TN plant. All five of our team members were present, and our presentation went great! After we finished, we received wonderful, encouraging feedback that ironically began with "I'm speechless!" We were informed that it would take some time, but they told us the Murfreesboro plant will most likely be able to give, and we may even be able to receive funding from the corporate office! We are all very excited!

We are FEED; we are going to change the world!

FEED is a group of five students leading a movement to raise awareness and ignite action to end hunger around the world. We are working towards the goal (but are not limited to!) of raising $50,000 for the non-profit organization, World Vision, Inc. They do an incredible job of helping people get out of poverty by reaching entire communities. We are working with a grant that is funded by the U.S. Government and the United Nations to focus on the following three southern African countries: Zimbabwe, Swaziland, and Lesotho. These countries are experiencing an extreme drought and famine. Our efforts have the potential to help 125,000 people if we just reach our goal of $50,000 because the grant will match our donations FIVE TIMES!!! Our money will be focused on providing the means to build wells, provide clean water, and food, proper nutrition training for parents, etc. We want to show others that just 5 students can have a tremendous impact on the world's hungry.