Yesterday, a mother arrived at our center with her three-year-old son. She had no money for transport, so she walked for several days. The child had been eating only local starchy plants for weeks. The parents have very little, though they once had enough to get by. Their goats—their only possessions—were lost during the worst fighting around Ntamugenga. The little boy is dangerously underweight, despite significant swelling caused by malnutrition. He doesn’t resist when the nurse takes blood, staring blankly into space. Nothing could hurt more than the hunger he has felt for so long.

When the doctor places the child on the scale, the mother bursts into tears—not out of despair, but relief. She knows she has reached a place where someone will fight for her son’s life just as fiercely as she has over all these months. Just a few dozen grams of protein each day will restore his health and strength—and her peace of mind.

Saturday’s Food Security Day is just one of hundreds of days on the calendar. You can write about it, hold a debate, and feel like you’re doing something important. The problem is that words and social media posts will not feed a starving child. They need beans, fish, an egg, bananas. Or they may get nothing at all.

That’s why we don’t just talk. We like to act. And we know you want to roll up your sleeves and join us—you show it every time you support the countless children in need.

When a child stops dreaming about who they will become and starts dreaming only about what they will eat, their dreams have shrunk to the size of a plate. And a child’s dreams should be bigger than the whole world. Make room for big dreams. Gift a therapeutic meal that can change everything.

In the photo: Joshua, one of the young patients at our nutrition center.