In the same world that throws away billions of tons of food every year.
If you’re dedicated to solving the food crisis like our team here at EverGrain, these kinds of clashing stats have a way of catching your breath. As a board member at Rise Against Hunger – an EverGrain partner and international nonprofit with a global mission to nourish communities most in need – our CEO Greg Belt is achingly familiar with the juxtaposition of abundance and lack.
“Worldwide waste is in part a result of social injustice, an imbalance in access to nutritious food, and this injustice desperately needs to be rectified,” he says. “It’s also a pretty clear condemnation of our current global food system. When so much is needed and so much is wasted, it’s not working.”
These issues – social justice, sustainable food systems – are why EverGrain came to be. We were founded on the belief that everyone deserves a seat at the table, and that to keep that table full, we need to drastically change the way we grow, make, and distribute food. While EverGrain is implementing our own long-term goals, action is needed now.
It Starts with a Meal™
Alberto Albieri, Chairman of Rise Against Hunger Italia, says that “Supporting those facing hunger means also supporting paths of empowerment and resilience.” Though RAH Italia works toward long-term change, they’re also on the frontlines of communities in crisis, where there is immediate need. In those cases, Mr. Albieri explains, RAH Italia’s work starts with a meal.
They partner with providers across Europe, whose volunteers arrive to the scene of droughts or floods, in conflict zones and through shifting political situations, equipped with a meal kit that includes everything from jam and biscuits to pasta and sauce to coffee and juice. “Nutritional value and accessibility are crucial elements toward establishing food security,” Mr. Albieri says.
And that’s exactly what makes EverGrain an ideal provider-partner.
EverGiving: Grains for Good
When we inked an official partnership with Rise Against Hunger Italia, it was 47 years ago almost to the day that the United Nations drafted the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition. It felt right, even if we didn’t know at the time exactly how we were going to help. We just knew we needed to. There was a why, a what, and who – and we figured out the how along the way.
When you have a clear vision, life has a way of pointing you to the people, places, and opportunities that can turn an idea into a reality. Which is how we ended up in a conversation with one of the world’s largest producers of durum wheat pasta, De Matteis Agroalimentare. We had the highly nutritious barley ingredients; De Matteis had the premium wheat and processing facility to produce the finished food product Rise Against Hunger needed to feed those in need.
The result? Pasta to fill the stomachs, and lift the spirits, of the weary.
Branded under the well-loved and premium Pasta Armando, these meal-kit pasta packs boast 90 grams of protein and over 40 grams of fiber per pack—it’s not enough to feed people; we must also feed them well.
Join the Mission Today to End Hunger Tomorrow
As these pasta packs make their way around the world, we think of Mr. Albieri who deeply believes that every action today helps end hunger tomorrow. Three organizations that truly care about people and planet came together and, in a matter of a mere few months, completed an important part of the ongoing mission to eliminate food insecurity. How many companies, governments, and individuals will it take to see that mission to the end?
“We’re getting there. Bit by bit. I truly believe that,” Greg says. “We’ve seen an average half percent drop every year in the number of people facing hunger worldwide in the last few decades. That has a lot to do with organizations like Rise Against Hunger and all of the providers and volunteers who donate their product, time, and money.”
We know that eliminating hunger for good requires all of us to work back to the roots of our agricultural, manufacturing, and distribution systems. To rethink the why, what, who, and how. So we can secure a hunger-free future for the world.
Will you join us?