The local “Make a Difference DKC” event will be held November 13-16 at the Suter Company and volunteer Emelia Waugh gave Rotarians an overview of how filling food packets for “Feed My Starving Children” will help those in need worldwide. Waugh’s day job is as an accountant at Suter and she told how every 15 seconds a child dies from starvation somewhere around the world. But rather than be overwhelmed by the staggering statistic, Waugh says the local “Make a Difference” event seeks to bring hope by recognizing the way to end hunger is feeding “one child at a time.” Waugh noted that more than 5,000 volunteers will be filling meal packets with a goal of more than one million produced.
To put the impact of the event in perspective, Waugh related a story about a person on vacation who was walking on a tropical beach. The person observed a local man running down the beach grabbing starfish washed ashore when the tide came in and throwing them back in the water. Curious, the person asked what was going on. The man explained that if left abandoned on the beach, the starfish would die because they need to be in water and can’t return on their own. The person observing pointed out the overwhelming number of starfish being washed ashore along the entire beachfront and that this seemed like an impossible task to make any difference. The man responded by grabbing a starfish, holding it up, and saying “…it makes a difference to this one.” Waugh said the seemingly hopeless situation can change when one finds ways to make a difference one step at a time.
“Make a Difference DKC” has been the local organizer of the “Feed My Starving Children” mobile packing event for the past 15 years. It originally started with support from the Sauber Manufacturing Company and got a major boost when the Suter Company became involved in 2012. Volunteering and donation information is available on their website at www.makeadifferencedkc.org.