Eliminating Hunger on Maui

Twenty-three years ago, my husband, Myles, started a retail carpet business. After 15 years of struggling, he gave half of it to God >> and God became his business partner. In 1999, Myles heard from God that he was to give away 51 percent of his net profits. At the same time I started Feed My Sheep, feeding a few kids each week from the trunk of our car. I was leading a youth group for teenagers. Some of the kids were coming just because we had donuts, they were obese because they would literally live off the sweets they got going from group to group. This totally broke my heart, I wanted to do something, in fact, I realized I HAD to do something to provide good, nutritious food for these young people. "Suppose a brother of sister is without clothes and daily food? If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well: keep warm and be fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?" -St James I started by getting food from the local food bank, putting it in the trunk of my car and giving it away at our youth group and the program grew from there. A little later our pastor offered a small room at the church for an office and food storage and the program continued to grow. God showed me from St. James 2:15 that I was to make sure their daily needs were met. My goal was to provide boxes of food for families based on their family size, enough food for a week. Feed My Sheep kept growing, we moved to another site and became a mobile program with multiple distribution points. We’ve gone from feeding 18 kids to 8000 each week. We are now in locations all over the island. On Saturdays we go to three distribution sites to give those who come a week’s supply of food. Sometimes we don't have enough food, but God multiplies what we have. We’ve seen God perform many miracles through the program. Sometimes we don’t have enough food. For example, we’ve brought enough food for 120 families and 180 show up, but we never run out of food, When we’ve should have run out, we’re taking families through the shelves and they’re still full. We always have enough. Some skeptics say we just haven't kept good records, but we know that is not the case, we keep excellent records. God has multiplied the food just like he did when Jesus fed the multitudes, this happens so often that we are used to it now. We give families enough food for one week, but many times we’ve had families return two weeks later and say, “Wow, you gave me enough food for two weeks.” God is multiplying the food! We’ve also seen other miracles. One woman came, picked up her food and received prayer because she was being evicted from her home that afternoon. When she returned home to grab her things and leave, on her table was cash for the exact amount she needed plus frozen food that had not yet started to thaw. She has no clue where that came from. Before I started on this journey, I never noticed the needs right around me, in our wonderful prosperous economy, now I think about them everyday. Perhaps we can't eliminate hunger all over the world, but we believe we can eliminate it on our island. That's our goal: to make Maui a hunger free zone. We are almost there. Sometime this summer we expect to be accessible to 100 percent of people needing food on the island. This is an awesome privilege. People come expecting to be treated like they are poor, we treat them like friends We see that our role is to show the love of Christ and to honor those we serve. As soon as people walk up to our distribution site we want them to start getting to know who Jesus is. Honor is so important. Many times when someone new comes to our distribution line they are looking down because they feel ashamed. We instruct all of our works to always look them in the eyes when they serve them, even if it means we have to stoop down almost to the ground. You would be surprised how powerful this simple act is, something happens when you look them in the eyes and smile, you can feel the presence of God lifting the shame away. The food is free, this means we give it away and ask nothing in return. This applies not only to money but also to other things. We don't require that that they "join" our church or even sit through an evangelistic service before they receive their food. When they come we love them and bless them. People come expected to be treated like they’re poor. We treat them like they are our friends, with respect, love, and honor. By the time they get their food, they’re already feeling the presence of God. We then ask, “Can we pray for you, do you need a miracle?” My favorite way to say this is, “What do you want God to bless you with today?” How many people would refuse a prayer like that? Hardly any do. One out of thousands. God has given my husband the gift to make money, I have the gift to spend it! Those who come become our friends. We don’t have clients; we have friends. We love, we honor, we respect, and we present the love of God to them. God loves the poor. The Bible says a lot about feeding the poor. The prophet Isaiah describes so many blessings to those who care for the poor (Isaiah 58). I believe God has blessed my husband’s business because He knows we’ll put it back into the kingdom of God. Feed My Sheep has grown to a nationally recognized non-profit organization that today is feeding over 70 percent of all the people in poverty on our island of Maui. In two to three months, Maui is going to be a hunger-free zone. My husband wondered how he was going to give away 51 percent of his net profits, but that hasn't been a problem for me. God has gifted my husband to make money, I have the gift to spend it! To read more about our story, see Myles’ book God, My Business Partner. All net proceeds are gifted to God and feeding the poor.