Social IssuesMAY 23, 2025

The Last Meal Or The Beginning Of Hope

An article by Avoda Foundation

“If only we had just one more meal… and a helping hand, maybe my child wouldn’t have to fall asleep tonight with an empty stomach.”

The sobs of a mother still echo in our hearts as we recall distributing food along the Thai-Myanmar border, in a nameless village marked by loss and hopelessness. For some, “hunger” is just a temporary discomfort between meals. But for thousands of children fleeing war in Karen State, hunger is a constant companion—an enemy that kills without a single bullet.

At Avoda Foundation, we have witnessed firsthand that “food” is not just for filling stomachs. It is survival. It is faith. It is a chance to escape despair.

Through our Food Aid mission, we have spent years providing emergency meals and nutrition to displaced Karen refugees—families without homes, fleeing persecution, war, and poverty. Some families have 5 to 6 young children, no income, and no land to cultivate. The only thing they wait for each day is the sound of footsteps—those of the Avoda staff arriving with a box of food.

A young girl from the village told us:

“I dream of becoming a teacher, but my mother told me that if I want to go to school, I have to skip meals—because going to school costs money, and we don’t have enough to feed everyone.”

For her, food is not just about easing today’s hunger. It is a bridge—a bridge that could carry her from poverty to a brighter future.

When a Meal Becomes the Last Hope

An 8-year-old boy in a refugee camp said,

“When my stomach growls, I just hug myself tightly and try to fall asleep as quickly as I can—because if I’m asleep, I won’t feel hungry.”

The mother of another young girl once had to split a single banana between her three children. Only after they had fallen asleep did she eat the peel. She told our team,

“I’m not hoping to be rich... I just want my children to have enough food to grow, to have strength, and to be able to go to school.”

These words are not the voice of weakness. They are the voice of someone who still has hope. And that hope... is waiting for someone to answer.

The “Food Aid” Mission: An Answer to Prayer

At Avoda Foundation, we don’t just deliver food—we deliver the grace of God into empty hands and broken hearts.

Our Food Aid mission serves in remote, forgotten places—where access is difficult and attention is scarce. But because God continues to send people like you to be a part of this mission, we are able to deliver safe meals to children and families who have no other options.

One Food Aid box can change children tomorrow. When children are fed, they can go to school. And when they learn, they gain the opportunity to transform — not just their own lives, but the lives of future generations.

A Meal Filled with Grace

Feeding the hungry is not merely an act of kindness—it is a response to the Great Commission. In Matthew 25:35, Jesus said: “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in” Through every meal we deliver to these children and families, we are serving Christ Himself. We do not give food just to sustain life—but to remind them that they are not forgotten.

To You, Our Dear Reader

If you have ever prayed, “Lord, use me to fulfill Your Kingdom’s work,”

Perhaps this is the answer to that prayer.

You may not be at the border, but you can send a meal to reach there. You may not have much time, but you can still be part of this story of grace…Now

A prayer for the hungry

“Dear God,

Strengthen the little ones whose voices have not yet been heard.

Sustain the families who are weary, and stir the hearts of those with abundance to respond in love.

May every meal delivered carry Your grace,

And may every hand that helps be filled with unending blessings.

Turn hunger into hope,

And refugees into followers of Christ.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Be the hand God uses.

Support the Food Aid mission of Avoda Foundation

Deliver meals to hungry children and families