Delivering food, shelter, and hope to the poorest of the poor
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Feed the Hungry
Feed the Hungry and Share Christ’s Love
An estimated 828 million people around the world will go to bed hungry tonight. That represents a significant increase in hunger levels since 2019, and current economic and political challenges are likely to make it even harder for vulnerable families to access and afford the food they need in the year ahead.
In response to this global hunger crisis, Cross Catholic Outreach partners with ministries feeding the poor in developing countries like the Dominican Republic, where our in-country partner FUNDASEP, the outreach arm of the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana, works to meet the spiritual and material needs of poor families. If compassionate Catholics like you stand with the diocese, its ministries will be able to distribute nutritious Vitafood to families in need.
With your support we can help the diocese and other Church-based outreaches deliver life-sustaining food to the communities where it is needed most. Last year, we were able to deliver 25.9 million meals to hungry families around the world, and we are confident even more can be done in the year ahead!
Your support is also an important extension of the Church’s spiritual goals and a fulfillment of the Corporal Works of Mercy. The Bible commands us to feed the hungry as a way of manifesting God’s love for the poor, telling us: “Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor” (Proverbs 22:9). When you join us to feed the hungry, your gift will help ensure hungry children will receive the healthy meals they need to grow.
Cross Catholic Outreach was recently featured on EWTN News In Depth. Watch the video to be inspired by the Church's work in the Dominican Republic!
Make a Greater Impact
Nourish precious lives all year long with a small monthly gift.
That's the equivalent of 2,796, 3,996 or 6,000 meals a year!
The Dominican Republic’s Need
A Country in Need of Hope
In the Dominican Republic, 40% of the population lives in poverty and 10% of people live in the kind of extreme poverty that leads to malnourishment and hopelessness. Families try to survive through subsistence farming, working hard to put enough food on the table, but sometimes it’s not enough. It’s estimated that one-third of families are food insecure and 61% of babies between the ages of 6 through 11 months suffer with anemia.
When children don’t have their basic nutritional needs met, brain development can also be impaired, impacting their health and educational outcomes for years to come. Fortunately, hunger can be overcome if enough of us — inspired by the Corporal Work of Mercy’s mandate to feed the hungry — will work together to provide nutritional support to these families in need.
With your support, Cross Catholic Outreach can partner with leaders in FUNDASEP to dramatically reduce hunger among the poor and marginalized in their community. Meeting basic nutritional needs is the first step in transforming families and communities. Please — help us feed the hungry in the Dominican Republic and around the world!
*Sources: World Bank, UNICEF, U.N., World Food Programme
Our Highlighted Partner
FUNDASEP
Founded in 1992, FUNDASEP, the outreach arm of the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana, offers the love of Christ to families in need in the Dominican Republic. Founded by the “Backpack Bishop,” José Grullón Estrella, to meet the deepest material and spiritual needs of the poorest families. FUNDASEP has been a trusted partner of Cross Catholic Outreach since 2005. Our collaboration has brought food, water, safe housing, agriculture and microenterprise opportunities to transform communities.
“The mission of Christ is to evangelize, to share the Gospel,” Bishop Grullón, now retired, once said.
FUNDASEP and Cross Catholic Outreach share a similar vision — meeting material and spiritual needs to glorify the name of Jesus Christ. When you join us to provide food for the hungry, you will empower the Church in the Dominican Republic fill stomachs while sharing the love of God.
Fill Empty Stomachs
Follow Jesus’ Command to Feed the Hungry
To combat the Dominican Republic’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, potato or lentil base, a protein (usually soy or beans), and key vitamins to energize, strengthen and improve the health of malnourished children and families.
Your gift will feed the hungry in the Dominican Republic and around the world with Vitafood!
Vitafood is a Lifeline
Bernarda de los Santos works hard as a subsistence farmer to help support her family, but during the dry season, food often becomes scarce. That’s why she’s thankful for the Vitafood provided through the ministry of FUNDASEP. These meals are a lifeline that help Bernarda and her family get the nutrition they need. Her family is also waiting for a home, since their own house is crumbling around them. Bernarda suffers from a liver condition, so good nutrition and safe housing are even more important.
“I pray to God that he helps. I just ask for help in general. I am grateful you came and helped us. I pray for health, and I pray God gives me a home because now I am sick,” said Bernarda.
Your support will help Cross Catholic Outreach ministry partners like FUNDASEP to provide for the most urgent needs of families like Bernarda’s. Help now!
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, 2024, 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!