Delivering food, shelter, and hope to the poorest of the poor
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Feed the Hungry and Change Lives
The Global Hunger Crisis
An estimated 820 million people around the world will go to bed hungry tonight — and a heartbreaking number of them will be children.
In response to this global hunger crisis, Cross Catholic Outreach partners with ministries feeding the poor in developing countries like Guatemala. There, the rate of childhood malnutrition is one of the highest in the world, but your support can help the Church deliver life-sustaining food where it is needed most. Last year, we were able to deliver 25.9 million meals to hungry families around the world!
As part of our response to the hunger crisis, Cross Catholic Outreach is partnering with the Diocese of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu to pack, ship and distribute 816,480 protein-rich meals to vulnerable families. We need your help to deliver these meals. And when you join us as a Cross Mission Partner, your monthly gift will help ensure that hungry children will receive nutrition to grow healthy and strong, a quality education that empowers their future, spiritual nourishment, and more.
Your monthly gift will help provide nutritious meals and hope to families in Guatemala and around the world.
Make a Greater Impact
Nourish precious lives all year long with a small monthly gift.
That's the equivalent of 1,080, 1,800 or 2,520 meals a year!
Guatemala’s Need
The Tragedies of Malnutrition
Our Guatemalan brothers and sisters have suffered the consequences of poverty for far too long. Chief among their hardships is extreme hunger, which can easily lead to chronic malnutrition. In fact, according to UNICEF, one out of two Guatemalan children under age 5 currently suffer from chronic malnutrition, a medical condition that can create lasting physical and mental disabilities.
When children don’t have their basic nutritional needs met, their growth and brain development are stunted, impacting their health for years to come. Poverty is often the root cause of this tragedy — but there is a way to overcome this crisis. With your support, Cross Catholic Outreach can partner with Catholic leaders in the Diocese of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu to dramatically reduce hunger among the poor and marginalized in their community. Please — help us bring relief and hope to these families in need!
Meeting basic nutritional needs is the first step to transforming families and communities. You become part of this transformation when you contribute to Cross Catholic Outreach and our ministry partners who are feeding the hungry in the name of Jesus.
Sign up to give monthly as a Cross Mission Partner and make an impact all year long!
Our Ministry Partner
Caritas Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu
For the past four years, we have been working with a local Catholic partner in the Diocese of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu to serve needy families in Christ’s name. With the help of generous friends like you, we’ve worked on a community transformation strategy that includes food relief, agricultural support and academic scholarships; launched a housing program; and built two community water systems to strengthen local families. Food is foundational to the development of this special community!
Our Partnership Timeline
Our ministry begins its work in southern Guatemala by partnering with the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima. Over the years, our donors have funded nearly 400 homes in that diocese.
We expand our work in southern Guatemala and begin partnering with Caritas Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu.
To date, our donors have sent more than 2 million meals for the hungry, strengthened 400 families with agricultural support, financed two community water systems, and provided various other blessings in the Diocese of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu. This past fall, donors helped to launch the diocese’s first housing program!
Fill Empty Stomachs
Follow Jesus’ Command to Feed the Hungry With Vitafood
To combat Guatemala’s hunger crisis, and the growing need worldwide, Cross Catholic Outreach has a simple but effective plan: distribute Vitafood. Vitafood is the generic name for all of the specially formulated meal packs Cross Catholic Outreach ships overseas to meet the needs of malnourished families. Though we receive Vitafood from different sources, each source develops the Vitafood with a rice or lentil base, a protein (usually soy or beans), and key vitamins to energize, strengthen and improve the health of malnourished children and families.
The diocese distributes Vitafood to local families to supplement the agriculture program. Families receive training on how to prepare the Vitafood in combination with locally grown foods, resulting in meals that are both nutritious and fit the local culture.
For every dollar you give, six of these nutritious meals can be sent to families around the world!
Your gift meets urgent needs and brings hope to struggling families in rural Guatemala and in other developing countries.
Benita and Eleazar Are Thankful for Vitafood
Benita and Eleazar Reyes have four children and another on the way. Work is scarce in the diocese, so Eleazar doesn’t always have a consistent source of income to support his family. That’s why the Vitafood meals they receive have been critical to keeping the Reyes children healthy and growing. “Thank you for the food you sent us because it has been of great benefit to our children, they have gained weight, their development has been very good,” said Benita.
Your support will provide critical food and aid to families like Benita and Eleazar’s around the world. Become a Cross Mission Partner and provide hope to weary families!
Become a Cross Mission Partner Today
Cross Mission Partners receive this prayer journal, handmade by those we serve in Haiti!
Use it for reflections and notes to grow in your spiritual life. You’ll also receive a prayer request form to mail back so that we can pray for your needs. In effect, this creates a spiritual bridge to connect you to our sisters and brothers in Christ in the developing world!
Cross Mission Partners also receive a semiannual Mission Update with news, insights and information about the good work and accomplishments made possible by your support.
* Every dollar helps us bless the least of our brothers and sisters throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, and South America.
Thank You for Your Special Commitment to Serving the Poor!
Proceeds from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures incurred through June 30, 2023, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.
What Is Your Legacy Mission?
When you include Cross Catholic Outreach as a beneficiary in your will, trust, retirement account or life insurance policy, you will make a difference for poor communities by meeting both material and spiritual needs for generations to come. Create Your Legacy!