Nov 05, 2025
By Rick McNary
I’ve been involved in various efforts to feed hungry people for more than 20 years both here in America and abroad. As you can imagine, I’ve seen it all — from great organizations providing life-saving meals to corrupt governments weaponizing hunger against their own people.
Once, when I returned from the world’s largest refugee camp near the Somalia border, I fell into a state of depression at the enormity of the problem. I couldn’t do enough.
My wife, Christine, commented that it appeared I was getting more depressed and maybe I should find some help. She’s a chief financial officer of an international manufacturing company and said when they faced difficult problems, her team would often put it in perspective by saying, “Well, at least we’re not trying to solve global hunger.” But she reminded me that it’s what I do every day. “That would make anyone depressed,” she said.
Her comment was what I needed to clear the fog as I contemplated my promise made to a starving girl in Nicaragua 10 years earlier to dedicate the rest of my life helping feed the hungry. That promise took me all over the world to some of the most despairing places on earth, and it felt like I was doing no good.
Then it dawned on me that my purpose wasn’t to feed the hungry; it was to rally as many people as I could to help feed the hungry. I marched forward with a much clearer vision to fulfill my promise to that little girl.
Currently, with the government shutdown and the suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC), we are hearing staggering numbers no one can wrap their head around: 42 million people will go hungry.
That’s enough to depress anyone.
I’ll let you in on a secret I learned about how to respond when faced with the enormity of the problem of hunger: start looking for a starfish. Let me tell you that story and why it’s so important to me.
The story goes: A young man was walking along a beach one morning and saw an old man picking something up from the beach and throwing it into the ocean. Once he got closer, he noticed the old man was picking up starfish stranded by receding tide.
“Do you really think you’re making a difference?” the young man asked the old man. “There are thousands of starfish here; you can’t save them all!”
“I did make a difference to that one,” the old man said as he tossed another starfish into the ocean.
In the course of the more than 20 years I’ve been involved in feeding the hungry, when I am overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem, I start looking for starfish. Numbers like 42 million are mind-numbing. However, local food banks, pantries and churches know who the starfish are in their community. So do schools. Maybe you can help them make a difference to their starfish.
I love Kansas Farm Bureau Foundation’s End Hunger campaign because they know how to help the starfish in all 105 Kansas counties through the local county Farm Bureau. This campaign aids local communities who know best how to do boots-on-the-ground to help feed the hungry people in their community.
Farmers know how best to feed the world, and they also know best how to feed the hungry in their community. You can help by donating here.
One starfish at a time.