Cross Catholic Outreach has been working hard to protect families from hunger and restore health to families who aren’t getting enough to eat. It is estimated that 820 million people worldwide people worldwide suffer from hunger and that this number will rise due to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic. You have helped us address this problem by funding global feeding programs and by helping us ship hearty meals to impoverished communities. The financial support of our donors plays a vital role in our mission to nourish lives and souls.

In fiscal year 2021, 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, donors supporting our food distributions helped stave off widespread hunger and restore hope. In Guatemala, you helped the Diocese of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu reach rural communities with urgently needed food, providing an opportunity to transform entire communities both physically and spiritually. In Zambia, for example, you provided meals for the 168 children at Dagama School for the Physically Disabled, giving them the nutrition they need to fuel their education.

Overall, your gifts helped us send food and fund nutritional expenses for poverty relief projects in 18 countries. This included cash grants to 92 projects and the shipping of 20.5 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.

Supplying food is important because it also frees up a poor family’s limited resources, allowing them to acquire other important needs, such as medicines, house repairs and their children’s education. Our approach of working through parish and diocese missions whenever possible means our efforts also have a spiritual impact. We are dedicated to Christ and to 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).