1 Million Meals
The 1 Million Meals Hunger Solution
Poverty may always be with us. Hunger does not have to be.
Perhaps you have wondered whether something as small as the change in your pocket could still matter. Where our founder grew up, in poverty’s deepest corners of Burkina Faso, 27 cents bought a bowl of beans or couscous. That bowl is the symbol of this campaign: every 27¢ you give counts as one meal toward a hungry world fed.
The one line to remember
No child should have to choose between eating and learning. Together we are serving one million meals so that none of them has to.
Where 27¢ comes from
A bowl of beans. A boy who never forgot.
When Daniel Zopoula was growing up in Burkina Faso, 27 cents could buy a bowl of beans or couscous. For a hungry child, that bowl was the difference between a day of strength and a day of weakness. Decades later, as the leader of Bridges of Hope, he turned that memory into a movement: 1 Million Meals.
“The poor you will always have with you.”
Jesus, Matthew 26:11 (NIV)
We know poverty has deep roots, and Jesus said the poor would always be with us. But hunger is different. Hunger can end, one bowl at a time, when enough people decide to share what they have.
“We may never eradicate poverty. But together we can end hunger.”
Daniel Zopoula, CEO, Bridges of Hope
Our progress
Every plate counts. So we count every plate.
Our verified meal count is being finalized and will appear here soon.
How we count: every 27¢ given counts as one meal, in memory of the bowl of beans that 27 cents once bought. Gifts fund Bridges of Hope hunger programs, beginning with school meals in Burkina Faso. Actual meal costs vary by place and year.
Team view: enter the verified figures from finance (Canada and USA combined). The counter updates for everyone. Tip: meals counted = verified dollars given to 1 Million Meals ÷ 0.27.
The problem
A child cannot learn on an empty stomach.
By midmorning, a hungry child stops hearing the lesson. Some stop coming at all, because the day is spent looking for food. Hunger does not only take a meal. It quietly takes a future. That is the thief we are standing against.
When the plate is empty
- Concentration fades long before the lesson ends.
- Children leave school early to find food or work.
- Parents face an impossible choice between school fees and food.
- The cycle of poverty passes quietly to the next generation.
When the plate is full
- Children stay in class and stay in school.
- Teachers see minds that are awake and ready.
- Families can plan beyond today’s meal.
- An educated child grows into a parent who breaks the cycle.
What your gift feeds
Choose your meals. See the faces behind the numbers.
The plan
Three steps. One full plate.
We made it simple, because feeding a child should never be complicated.
Choose your meals
Ten meals, a school year for one child, or a thousand plates. Every 27¢ counts as one meal.
Give in one minute
Give securely once or monthly, from Canada or the USA. Canadian gifts receive an official tax receipt.
Watch the counter move
Our finance team verifies every gift and updates the meal counter on this page, so you can see progress toward one million.
Everyone can do this
You do not need to be rich to feed a child.
A jar of coins, a birthday, a classroom, a Sunday school, a lunch-hour at work. At 27¢ a meal, every group can fill bowls.
Kids and Sunday schools
A “Coins for Meals” jar on the table. Every quarter and two pennies is a lunch. $27 fills 100 plates.
Schools and classrooms
Class against class: which room can feed the most children? A lesson in math and in mercy. $48.60 feeds one child for a school year.
Churches
One Sunday, one offering, one goal. Tell your people what 27¢ can do and watch them rise. $2,700 serves 10,000 meals.
Birthdays and celebrations
Ask friends for meals instead of gifts. Turning 10? Ask for 100 meals. Turning 50? Ask for 5,000.
Businesses and teams
Match your staff’s gifts, host a lunch-hour BBQ, or sponsor a month of meals for a whole school.
Host a fundraiser
Create your own fundraising page in five minutes for a birthday, a church, a school or a team, and share it with everyone you know.
Why you can trust this
Your guide knows the road.
Bridges of Hope has served families in 21 countries for more than two decades, and our roots are in Burkina Faso. The 1 Million Meals Hunger Solution is a Bridges of Hope program: we set its purpose and budget, and our team and trusted partners in Burkina Faso serve the meals under written agreements, reporting back on every dollar.
Registered and accountable
A registered Canadian charity (863616843RR0001) with audited financial statements and a board that oversees every program.
Local food, local hands
Meals are prepared close to home, supporting local farmers and cooks as well as the children they feed.
Beyond charity
A fed child stays in school. An educated child becomes the parent who breaks the cycle. That is how we move beyond charity, beyond poverty.
Give meals now
Put a plate in front of a child today.
Please choose 1 Million Meals as the designation for your gift.
From Canada
Secure giving with an official Canadian tax receipt. Give once or monthly.
From the United States
Give through Bridges of Hope USA and choose 1 Million Meals as your designation.
Prefer another way?
Cheque, stock, a gift from your church or business, or a legacy gift: every path feeds a child.
See all the ways to giveDisclaimer: Bridges of Hope International Network of Development Agencies (BOHINDA) is a registered Canadian charity. Donors may indicate a preference for how their donation will be used; however, the final decision on the use of all funds rests with BOHINDA. In accordance with CRA guidelines, if BOHINDA is unable to use the donation as the donor prefers, the donation will not be returned, but will be applied to the organization’s charitable purposes where it is needed most.
Twenty-seven cents. One child. One more day of learning.
Be the reason a classroom stays full tomorrow.
Why we do what we do
In Jesus’ name. For the glory of God.
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me… Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”Matthew 25:35–36, 40 (NIV)
Six people Christ asks us to see. Six ways we answer.
Matthew 25 is our inspiration: we answer the call of Christ to care for the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger and the prisoner, with compassion, love, justice and mercy, and we serve every person with dignity, whatever their faith. Every plate, well, classroom and loan is an act of worship. To God be the glory.