FeelGood World Fights Hunger One Grilled Cheese As a Time

FeelGood World Fights Hunger With Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

By Halogen TV | November 7, 2011 at 8:00 am

grilled cheese; from istock Do you believe a grilled cheese sandwich can feed the world? The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), estimates there are 925 million hungry people in the world. That’s nearly 1 in 7 people.

The latest report from the FAO states, “High food prices are putting pressure on Least Developed countries who have seen their food import bill soar by almost a third from last year.”

Nonprofit FeelGood World is battling world hunger one grilled cheese sandwich at a time.

FeelGood World began as a love story. Started in 2004 by University of Texas at Austin students Kristin Walter and her brother Jason, FeelGood World was inspired by the siblings love for their collective human family. Kristin’s college friend Talis Apud got involved, and they devised a plan to expand the nonprofit nationwide.

“Their concept was simple: offer students grilled cheese sandwiches in exchange for a donation, and give the money to organizations with a proven track record of eradicating global hunger,” states the FeelGood World website.

Focusing on college campuses, they raised $10,000 in just six months. This made them feel good.

The food delis serve as conversation hubs where students learn about the root causes of hunger. FeelGood World inspires college students to become changemakers, and through their Changemaker Academy, students receive advice on running successful social businesses.

So how can grilled cheese sandwiches feed the world?

FeelGood World delis are now on 24 college campuses across the country.
The student-run delis have raised $1,283,000 to date.
FeelGood World benefactors include The Hunger Project and Choice Humanitarian.

In 2009, FeelGood World hired Kern Beare, Director of the Changemaker Academy. We recently asked him about the challenges and benefits of running a nonprofit.

What’s the biggest challenge in running a nonprofit?

Ken Beare: Keeping up with the demand. We have a lot of startup chapters…a lot of students who want to learn the skills of being a changemaker, being a social entrepreneur. To support these students, we need funds, we need staff. Right now we are able to support about 30 chapters, but we have another 10 ready to go. So we are constantly out there, telling our story, touting our results, and hoping and trusting that people will see the incredible impact we are having, and give us their support.

Has the FeelGood team had a chance to visit the communities benefiting from the FeelGood effort?

Beare: Yes. FeelGood staff and students have had opportunities to visit the communities that are benefiting from the funds they have raised. Two relatively recent trips were to villages in Africa and Mexico. It is tremendously inspiring for our students to see our partner organizations in action…to see how their program truly helps people discover their own capacity as individuals and as a community to become changemakers themselves, and to end their own hunger.