Clearing the Path, One Brick at a Time
There’s no ribbon-cutting in the early stages. Just grit, shared purpose, and a commitment to lasting impact.
In Sierra Leone, the foundation of Koinadugu College started with overgrown land and an unmet need. Students were traveling many hours away to attend college, preventing them from living in their community. This was a financial burden. The community envisioned something better: a permanent, safe space for learning.
That vision moved forward through collaboration. Project 1808, our on-the-ground partner, led efforts to build the strategy and drive the execution with local leaders and residents. Together, they cleared land, mixed cement by hand, shaped blocks on site, and sketched classrooms in the dirt.
Feeding Mouths Filling Minds contributed planning and funding along with Strides for Africa. Now KC is a thriving College with clean water, food sources, flushable toilets, and social enterprises which support student health and learning.
Koinadugu College, along with its educators and local chiefs and community members, played the central role in bringing this vision to life.
This is how we build: intentionally, collaboratively, and with the long view in mind. Every trench and wall reflects a shared belief that education, nutrition, and dignity are connected, and that local leadership drives meaningful, lasting change.
Nourishing Potential: How School Meals Strengthen Learning and Community
Across the rural schools FMFM partners with, one consistent factor is making a difference: the presence of a school meal.
Access to a dependable, nutritious meal during the school day helps students stay engaged in class, improve concentration, and build connection.
When our team visited six rural schools in Rwanda, we found that five offered no fruits or vegetables in their snacks.
This wasn’t due to drought or poor soil, but rather the rising cost of food. In schools without any meal program, several teachers shared that lunchtime was difficult. Some students would leave and would not return. Yet, local solutions are emerging. At one school, families and staff collaborated to start a small garden. It became more than a food source. It became a shared project, an agricultural learning space, and even a small source of income for caregivers. Students began learning about farming practices, food systems, and nutritional sustainability. These are lessons they can carry into their futures.
Community-Powered Impact Investing in Sustainability, Education, and Local Leadership
At Feeding Mouths Filling Minds, we don’t just support projects—we invest in people. Every initiative we fund is built in partnership with local educators, trainers, community members, and leaders. They are long-term collaborations that promote education, economic stability, and environmental sustainability.
In Rwanda,
Regenerative mushroom farming is more than a source of nutrition. It’s a community-centered solution strengthening food security, generating sustainable income through local sales, and encouraging better attendance for the 221 children it serves.
In Kenya,
Student-led farming at Gatune is more than a source of school meals. The integrated farm doubles as a living lab that empowers women, creates seasonal jobs, and builds lasting food security for 400 students and their community.
In Sierra Leone,
Students at Koinadugu College are leading campus-wide sustainability through native and fruit tree planting. These efforts enrich biodiversity, create green learning spaces, and build student leadership in environmental stewardship.
We work alongside these leaders through project co-development, regular assessments, and site visits. Our focus is always on amplifying local vision and expertise.
Happy International Charity Day
On this International Day of Charity, Feeding Mouths Filling Minds celebrates the generosity and shared commitment that drive our mission.
We believe charity creates the greatest impact when it is rooted in local leadership and strong partnerships. In the communities we serve, this approach is already creating change. In Liberia, our partnership with Humanity Care Liberia has expanded the Home Grown School Feeding Project, reaching more than 1,600 people through school farming, nutrition education, and skills-building. Across Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone, students are staying in school, families are engaged, and communities are leading the way.
Recent events like Garden of Giving and Balance with a Brew helped raise essential funds for six new projects underway in 2025. These community-driven initiatives will focus on school-based agriculture, women’s empowerment, solar-powered water access, and classroom support, all guided by trusted local partners.
This fall, two exciting events are bringing communities together to support our mission: Pickleball for a Purpose and our Tennis Tournament. Whether you're swinging a paddle or cheering from the sidelines, each match played helps move our work forward.
Although August’s drink specials at La Finca Coffeehouse have concluded, the impact continues thanks to every cup poured and every gift made.
As we mark the International Day of Charity, we are deeply grateful for every act of generosity that helps feed minds, fuel futures, and build stronger communities.
Thank you for being part of this work.
When the Walk to School Ends With a Meal, Learning Begins
Feeding Mouths Filling Minds has always been shaped by listening. We listen to local leaders and students. This includes listening to stories that begin long before the school day does.
In many of the communities we serve, the journey to school is not short. In Tanzania some students begin before sunrise. They walk over hills, through quiet villages, across uneven ground and this is after they do chores for their family, such as fetching water.
And still, they arrive.
A partner teacher in Bukoba , Tanzania, shared something that stays with us. “They walk with purpose. But when they arrive and know there’s food and water, they walk with relief too.”
This is why we believe school meals are not just support. They are the core infrastructure. When food is available at school, it does more than fill a stomach. It supports attendance, improves focus, and allows students to stay for the entire day. It affirms that the long walk is worth it.
In Kenya, the Gatune school farm feeds over 400 students while engaging staff, students, and community members. This includes involvement in growing food, learning agricultural and leadership skills, and supporting women’s empowerment and employment. This is a student-led model of nutritional and economic sustainability.
When we support meals, we are not just providing food. We are meeting students’ determination with dignity. We are helping them stay, focus, learn and gain an education.
"The Gatune project is transforming lives by providing nutritious meals from its produce, ensuring well-being and fostering a healthier, brighter community."— Stephen Gakombe , Gatune Farm Manager
From School Meals to Social Impact
Feeding Mouths Filling Minds has always believed that nutrition fuels more than just the body. It gives children the strength to show up, the focus to learn, and the chance to dream about what comes next. It lays the groundwork for confident students, vibrant learning communities, and resilient futures.
At Huruma School in Kenya, students are not only receiving meals, they have connected with peers across the world. Through our global student program, Huruma students have been exchanging letters with a school in Wisconsin, sharing stories about their lives, school routines, and dreams for the future.
In one letter, Sarah Waithera, a Grade 12 student, wrote:
“The great reason why I am writing this letter is to create friendship between me and you... I like that we will interact together and know more about each other.”
At Maria Nicholas Groves School of Excellence (MNGESS) in Liberia, FMFM supported teacher training to help enable our educators. They continue to lead programs, teaching students practical skills rooted in their own community.
Across FMFM-supported areas, alumni are stepping into leadership.. They are guiding farming, starting businesses, or teaching in the very schools they once attended. These are not sweeping changes, but steady ones made possible by local partnerships and consistent support.
What began as a school meal or a garden lesson has grown into something more. This is how the next generation of leaders begins.
“Feeding our minds helped us imagine something more. Now we’re making it real.” – Shared by a community mentor in Liberia
World Humanitarian Day
This year’s theme, “We are Humanitarians,” celebrates people advancing health, education, and safety through steady local action. At Feeding Mouths, Filling Minds, we honor our in-country partners whose leadership reflects these values every day.
In Bong County, Liberia, we celebrate Sam and Yorlor of Humanity Care Liberia and the caregivers at Maria Nicholas-Groves School of Excellence (MNGESS) for their commitment to strengthening schools and communities.
Together with Feeding Mouths, Filling Minds, they led the purchase of 10+ acres of land now being prepared for cultivation. Once produced, it will provide nutritious food for students at six schools and support local livelihoods.
Sam and Yorlor’s leadership shows the heart of humanitarian work through quiet, steady efforts that plant seeds, create spaces for nourishment, and share skills to strengthen communities.
This World Humanitarian Day reminds us that impact starts with everyday actions like growing gardens, sharing knowledge, and preparing students for their future. By supporting leaders like Sam and Yorlor, we can help children in Liberia get the nourishment they need to learn, grow, and thrive.
Garden of Giving: A Heartfelt Thank You
FMFM’s Summer Fundraiser: GARDEN OF GIVING
A Fundraiser for Feeding Mouths Filling Minds: a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to providing nutritious food sources for children in Africa, enabling them to focus on their education and future.
This summer, the Garden of Giving bloomed at Sanger House Gardens in Milwaukee because of you.
Your generosity and enthusiasm turned one afternoon into a global act of kindness. Together, we are moving closer to eliminating hunger as a barrier to education, one garden, one meal, one child at a time.
Since our founding, Feeding Mouths Filling Minds has completed 39 projects in 8 countries, reaching more than 23,000 people. Every public donation goes directly to programs, thanks to private donors who cover administrative costs.
This year’s event moves us toward our $21,000 goal to fund six new community-led projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Liberia, and to empower students at Pathways High in Milwaukee through hands-on global learning.
Your gifts will strengthen agriculture and nutrition, empower women, expand education access, and build critical infrastructure for safe, productive school farms.
Every ticket, every auction item, and every donation has planted seeds that will grow for years to come, nourishing children, strengthening families, and building thriving communities.
From Milwaukee to Africa, the ripple effect starts with you, and it is only just beginning.
Rooted in Action, Aligned for Impact
Feeding Mouths Filling Minds didn’t set out to meet global benchmarks. We set out to listen, to learn, and to act with purpose and with people. Over time, something powerful happened. As our work in nutrition and education deepened, it began to align closely with global goals that seek to create a healthier, more equitable world.
These goals are known as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 interconnected targets adopted by all UN Member States in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They offer a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity, both for people and the planet. The goals range from eradicating hunger and poverty to promoting inclusive education, gender equity, clean energy, and sustainable economic growth.
United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. United Nations General Assembly. Retrieved from https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
“We’re not chasing global goals. We’re living them out by investing in local leadership and solutions that last.” — FMFM Partner
At FMFM, we see this alignment not as a checklist but as a reflection of how community-rooted efforts can echo on a global scale. Our work directly contributes to several of these goals:
Goal 2: Zero Hunger
In Liberia, FMFM is actively collaborating with Humanity Care Liberia and seven local schools to develop a sustainable school meal program that goes far beyond just feeding students. This initiative directly addresses Goal 2 by reducing hunger through daily nutritious meals, and it’s built to last. The meals are sourced from crops grown and processed locally, including cassava that is dried and turned into gari, a staple West African food.
Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
The program is creating job opportunities for women in the community, from preparing meals to processing and preserving crops. This strengthens both household incomes and local economies.
Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals
This project reflects collaboration in action: between FMFM and HCL, the leadership and PTA of the schools, and the students themselves who are actively engaged in the process.
This alignment isn’t a checklist. It’s a reflection of how grassroots, community-driven efforts are already moving the world forward, one school meal, one harvest, and one student at a time.
Honoring Indigenous Stewardship, From Sierra Leone to the Kitchen Table
At Feeding Mouths Filling Minds, we don't just talk about sustainable solutions—we build them alongside the communities who’ve been sustaining their ecosystems for generations.
On this International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we’re reflecting on the 2024 global theme—protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact—with a deeply personal lens.
One of the collaborations closest to our hearts is @Koinadugu College in Sierra Leone, a community-led initiative that shares our core belief: real impact isn’t about quick wins—it’s about building systems that last. We didn’t come in with the answers. Local leaders told us what they needed. We listened, partnered, and helped resource what has now become a thriving institution. That’s the power of local knowledge—and the stickiness of community-led solutions.
We’re also proud of the work of FMFM's own @Derek Nicholas, whose recently published book, Through Food We Know Ourselves, challenges us to honor the language, foodways, and land stewardship traditions of the Indigenous communities he represents. His leadership reminds us: food is never just food. It’s culture. It’s identity. It’s resistance.
Today, and every day, we recommit to protecting the rights, agency, and ancestral wisdom of Indigenous communities. Their knowledge leads. We follow.
We stand in solidarity with Indigenous communities and with those working to uphold their dignity, health, and agency.
When meal becomesa turning point
When FMFM partners with a community, we assess long-term trends to better understand how nutrition shapes children’s futures. In Kenya, by 2014, an estimated 1.8 million children were stunted and 767,927 were underweight (UN WFP, 2019) African Union Commission, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, United Nations World Food Programme, and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
That same year, 12.9 million working-age adults had experienced stunting as children, contributing to an economic loss estimated at 6.9% of the country’s GDP. These figures highlight how childhood hunger limits both individual and national potential.
FMFM has been partnering with schools to respond to these challenges with community-led, nutrition-focused interventions. At one of our early partner schools, something simple has made a measurable difference: lunch. Once students knew they would receive a meal, attendance improved, and classroom engagement followed. They no longer had to choose between hunger and learning.
Hunger doesn’t just affect the body. It affects the classroom, the future, and the community.
At Feeding Mouths Filling Minds, we’ve seen firsthand how the absence of dependable meals impacts students’ ability to attend school, concentrate, and grow. The problem isn’t only what’s missing from the plate; it’s what’s missing from the learning experience.
The impact goes beyond the school day. Hunger-related setbacks affect a child’s long-term ability to earn, a family’s economic mobility, and a community’s stability. Investing in food access means investing in education, opportunity, and future leadership.
Our projects are shaped and sustained by local leaders, those who know their community best. From managing school gardens to planning harvest cycles, their work is rooted in context and designed for long-term impact.
Food systems are not a handout. It is a launchpad for learning, a foundation for growth, and a tool for transformation.
One Meal,Many Ripples
At Feeding Mouths Filling Minds, we work in close partnership with in-country leaders across Africa to support school-based nutrition programs that reinforce learning and encourage student participation. According to the World Food Programme, school meals can increase enrollment by up to 9% and improve attendance by as much as 20% in low-income settings (WFP, 2013).
We’ve seen these outcomes firsthand. In Rwanda and Liberia, several of our partner schools have engaged local parents in maintaining school gardens. These gardens help provide meals during the school year, support long-term nutritional stability, and create opportunities for seasonal income.
When a student receives a consistent, nutritious meal at school, the benefits reach well beyond the classroom.
When children have access to food at school, families often experience reduced financial strain, allowing them to focus household resources on education, small business efforts, and broader community engagement. In this way, school meals serve as a foundation for educational and economic growth.
That’s why we prioritize locally led, sustainable feeding efforts. Nourishing one student can strengthen a household and, over time, help grow a more resilient community.
What possibilities could grow from one reliable school meal?
Years of Impact: What We’ve Learned Through Local Partnership
Over the past several years, Feeding Mouths Filling Minds has worked alongside community leaders across rural Africa to strengthen access to nutrition in schools. One key insight continues to guide our work: long-term food access is closely tied to education, dignity, and leadership rooted in the community.
When we talk about food security, we’re not just talking about calories. We’re talking about whether a child can show up to school with the energy to learn, to laugh, to just be a kid. It’s also about whether students can stay in school, whether families can shift their focus toward the future, and whether communities have the tools they need to build lasting solutions from the ground up.
We have supported school meal programs that reduce absenteeism, collaborated with local leaders to transform unused land into productive school gardens, and seen how agricultural education in classrooms has reshaped how students and families think about farming and nutrition. In each case, the strongest outcomes are driven by the people who live, learn, and lead in these communities.
Our mission continues to be grounded in one belief: when children are nourished, they can learn. And as they learn, they gain the confidence and tools to shape what comes next for their communities.
We are proud to support these efforts, and even more proud to
walk alongside the local leaders who make them possible.
Why we focus on the power of grassroots change in rural African communities
At Feeding Mouths Filling Minds, we focus on rural African communities because these are the areas where dependable food access and educational resources are often the most limited and where collaboration can have meaningful, lasting impact.
Locally Led, Impact-Driven
We support locally led projects because our in-country partners know what their communities need. They understand how to:
Keep students in school
Use available resources
Adapt to real-time challenges
Across Liberia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone, we’ve seen how school gardens, meal programs, and community-driven education projects improve student nutrition and learning.
How We Work
We don’t design from afar. Instead, we:
Build long-term partnerships
Stay connected through field visits and regular calls
Review projects often and listen closely to local feedback
This helps us support real needs and grow local capacity.
What We Saw in Rwanda
During visits to six rural schools:
Five lacked fruits and vegetables in school meals. The reason wasn’t climate, but the high cost of food.
All had usable land for gardening.
With local input, schools began planning small gardens to feed students and offer hands-on learning.
Our Focus
We remove the barrier of food insecurity so students can focus on learning.
We fund projects that are:
Sustainable
Locally led
Education-focused
These efforts do more than provide meals. They build skills, dignity, and pathways for long-term success.
If you're interested in how food, education, and local leadership intersect, we welcome you to learn more and connect with our work.
Nourishing Potential: Linking School Meals to Student Success
It All Begins Here
Across the schools we partner with in rural Africa, daily school meals are making a measurable difference in children’s lives.
In Rwanda, FMFM teams recently visited six rural schools. Five of them lacked fruits or vegetables in their lunch programs, not because of climate challenges, but due to food procurement costs. In schools without meals, educators reported that hunger was directly affecting learning. Some teachers even left the cafeteria during lunch to avoid seeing students without food.
But we also saw what change looks like. At one school, local parents helped start a small garden. Today, that garden supports regular meals that include fresh produce. Students now stay focused in class, absenteeism is down, and the garden has become a learning tool in itself. Children are gaining knowledge about nutrition and agriculture. Families are earning income by participating in its upkeep.
This is the impact of your support. Each donation helps provide dependable, nutritious meals that directly contribute to improved health, stronger classroom performance, and increased school retention. The outcomes are visible in the meals served, the lessons learned, and the lives strengthened.
Grown Through Purpose: The Pillars Behind Our Mission and Projects
It All Begins Here
Feeding Mouths, Filling Minds was founded on a belief: that children deserve dependable access to nutritious food so they can focus on their education and future. Since then, our work has expanded through trusted partnerships and project models that support both immediate needs and long-term systems.
Our approach is structured around three mission pillars that define our purpose, direction, and method. These are implemented through four project pillars that drive our impact with our in-country partners across Liberia, Rwanda, Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania.
Our Mission:
Our Why
Healthy families. Educated children. Thriving communities.
Our work begins with this purpose. When families have consistent access to food and children are able to stay in school, communities can grow stronger across generations.
Our What
Nutritious food sources for children.
FMFM supports projects that shift from short-term aid to long-term access. This includes school gardens, poultry and mushroom farming, and food education programs designed to be maintained locally.
Our How
Sustainable Initiatives, Education, and Local Leadership
Each project is developed and led in collaboration with our in-country partners. These leaders bring the cultural insight and technical knowledge needed to design effective, relevant solutions. Our role is to listen, co-plan, and fund initiatives with shared ownership.
Our mission pillars express the core beliefs that shape our purpose. They guide how we approach hunger, education, leadership, and long-term change. These principles keep us aligned with our vision to empower communities through nutrition and learning.
Our Four Project Pillars
1. Eliminating Hunger Challenges
We address food insecurity by investing in school meal programs and food production systems. In Liberia, our agriculture-based Home Grown School Feeding Project currently serves over 1,600 people through cassava cultivation and school gardens.
2. Promoting Education
We support learning environments where children can succeed. This includes providing classroom technology in Liberia, environmental science instruction in Sierra Leone, and hands-on agriculture programs in Rwanda and Kenya.
3. Creating Maximum Local Impact
All FMFM projects are co-developed with our in-country partners. For example, in Rwanda we worked with local schools to introduce poultry farming and mushroom production that directly supplement school meals. This helps ensure that programs meet local needs and can be carried forward by the community.
4. Empowering Leaders
We support leadership development through education, training, and project ownership. In Sierra Leone, students at Koinadugu College have launched their own environmental initiatives after participating in FMFM’s Sustainability Incubator, which continues to run each academic semester.
Our project pillars provide the structure for how we plan, implement, and evaluate the initiatives we support. They reflect our commitment to local leadership, sustainability, and meaningful collaboration at every stage, from early assessment to long-term follow-up.
These pillars ground our work in local realities. They build continuity across regions and partnerships and reflect the voices and values of the communities we serve.
Rwanda Independence Day
It All Begins Here
Today, Rwanda celebrates 62 years of independence. This is a powerful moment to reflect on the country’s journey of resilience, unity, and progress. It is also an opportunity to recognize the role of local leadership and innovation in shaping the future of education, health, and sustainability across the country.
Since 2017, Feeding Mouths Filling Minds has proudly partnered with schools in Kayonza, Gasabo, and Kamonyi to link nutrition and education through locally rooted, future-focused efforts.
In Kayonza, at Imizi Children’s Center, a partnership with Water Access Rwanda and Strides for Africa, we restored access to a vital water system. Today, more than 200 children have safe water for drinking and hygiene. In 2024, Imizi launched a mushroom farming project, combining agricultural learning with enhanced school meals.
Sustainable Schools in Action
At Bumbogo Secondary School in Gasabo District, over 750 students are involved in a school farm that grows fruits and vegetables. A new chicken rearing initiative, launched in 2024, is expanding the school’s food program while offering students the chance to learn about animal care and nutrition systems firsthand.
Across Kamonyi District, at the St. Jean Bosco Schools, over 3,500 students benefit from rainwater harvesting systems developed in partnership with Water Access Rwanda. These systems, installed between 2022 and 2023, are helping schools become more self-reliant and better equipped to support student well-being.
These projects are more than infrastructure. They are led and maintained by the communities themselves. FMFM continues to walk alongside local leaders to expand educational opportunities and build models of nutritional and economic sustainability that students can carry forward.
Why food is more than a meal: It’s a gateway to education, health, and freedom.
It All Begins Here
At Feeding Mouths Filling Minds, we believe that localized food systems have the power to catalyze sustainable environmental and economic growth. When a child has reliable access to protein-rich meals, their ability to learn increases. In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, up to 40% of children under five are stunted due to chronic malnutrition, which impacts both physical development and cognitive performance (UNICEF, 2023).
We’ve seen how consistent school meals keep children in the classroom. In Liberia, through our partnership with Humanity Care Liberia, our community-led agriculture initiative reaches more than 1,600 individuals, addressing hunger and supporting long-term educational engagement.
Seeds of Strength
When paired with strong local leadership, it becomes a tool for lasting change. FMFM partners with our in-country leaders to support agriculture projects on locally owned land—creating food security, vocational training, and leadership opportunities, especially for women. Together, we’re building community-driven solutions that last.
Lasting impact doesn’t happen overnight. It takes commitment, local leadership, and the right tools. That’s the work Feeding Mouths Filling Minds supports: locally designed food systems that improve education, strengthen health, and open the door to a more self-sustaining future.