The Barriers to Family Dinner Aren’t Simply a Lack of Time

Mark Viso, a proud native Angeleno and CEO of Food for the Hungry,talks about hunger, malnutrition, and what motivates his organization in the fıght against poverty.

In many of the countries and contexts where Food for the Hungry (FH) works, the barriers to family dinner aren’t simply a lack of time.

Too many families lack access to nutritious and affordable food. The combination of conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic have caused global hunger and malnutrition rates to skyrocket. The United Nations estimates that last year 828 million people were hungry, with 2.3 billion people experiencing food insecurity. Nearly 150 million children under 5 years old suffer from stunted physical growth and cognitive development due to a chronic lack of essential nutrients.

Right now, 50 million people are facing famine, and malnutrition claims the life of a child every 11 seconds.

At FH, this reality motivates our work in the fıght against poverty.

One example is our work in Guatemala. With funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), FH is working with communities to build food security and improve the nutritional status of vulnerable individuals and families in areas with some of the highest rates of poverty, hunger, and child malnutrition in Guatemala.

Our local staff has reached almost 8,000 families through the distribution of a fortifıed micronutrient soup mix used to supplement meals, alleviating hunger and addressing vitamin and nutrient defıciencies.

These investments address hunger in the immediate term and give families the security to know they don’t have to go hungry in the future.

At FH, we are honored to walk alongside these children, families, and communities on their journey from hunger to health. Our goal is that every family can sit down at a dinner table brimming with plentiful, nutritious foods and hope for a better, brighter future — which, after all, is the same thing we want for our own families.