Cross Catholic Outreach has been working hard to protect families from hunger and to restore the health of the 820 million people worldwide who aren’t getting enough to eat — a number expected to rise even higher in the future. By funding global feeding programs and shipping hearty meals to impoverished communities, our donors have played a vital role in this mission to save lives and nourish souls. Supplying food is important because it also frees up a poor family’s limited resources, allowing them to pursue other important needs, such as medicines, house repairs and their children’s education. This work is all the more powerful when performed in service to Christ and for the building of his kingdom, for “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

In fiscal year 2020, your generosity in supplying food was more critical than ever before. As families faced greater vulnerabilities because of COVID-19 lockdowns and the economic crisis that followed, food donors helped stave off widespread hunger and restore hope. Your gifts helped us send food supplies and fund nutritional costs for poverty relief projects in 16 countries. This included cash grants to 48 projects and the shipping of 24.2 million nutrient-rich Vitafood meals to the hungry. Your efforts met the immediate nutritional needs of the poor, including thousands of Catholic schoolchildren, while playing a vital role in the Church’s efforts to holistically nourish bodies, minds and souls. 

In Haiti, for example, you enabled a Catholic mission to distribute monthly food staples to 200 vulnerable families each month, rescuing them from the prospect of going entire days without something to eat. In Guatemala, you helped the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima reach rural communities with urgently needed food during one of the most severe lockdowns in the world.