Service/Giving Opportunities web site is launched as a community courtesy
(Submissions made by AM30HFamine participants)

Call To Action

"We want to encourage the All Metro 30 Hour Famine (AM30HF) event's participating youth to stay focused on and connected to, as well the community, the idea of 'giving is an ONGOING thing, not a one time thing'. Yet, at the same time, encourage folk in the larger Christian community to seek out service opportunities as the Lord leads them. Think about it -- hundreds/thousands of youth and adults coming TOGETHER in one place to be the hands and feet of Christ!" 
--Renae Storbakken, AM30HF Team Member from Progressive Baptist Church, Youth Worker

Visit Link: Service/Giving Opportunitiies - Local & Global

For information Contact: Renae Storbakken, 651-739-9164

For Media Inquiries & Interviews/Publicist Contact: Grace Media Services (GMS), 763.221.6894 or Email: gms_client@GMNetwork.cc

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Faminer youth boost the fundraiser goal

Mpls, MN (July 1, 2006 GMS) The Faminers' Top Youth fundraisers from each church over $1,000

Rebecca Gobel, 8th grader: $4,000, St Paul's United Methodist, Mendota Heights
Eric Essendrup, 8th grade: $1,590, Sherpherd Of The Hills Lutheran, Hopkins
Mallory Grams, 9th grader: $1,250, Sherpherd Of The Hills Lutheran, Hopkins
Natalie Nash, 12th grader: $1,010, Sherpherd Of The Hills Lutheran, Hopkins
Abra Owens, 7th grader: $1,130, Sherpherd Of The Hills Lutheran, Hopkins
Mackenzie Sissel, 7th grader: $1,010, Living Christ Lutheran, Chanhassen

The Faminers' Top Youth fundraisers under $1,000

Justin Daleiden, 11th grader: $501.50, Immanuel Lutheran, Eden Prairie
Meredith Johnson, 8th grader: $400, Immanuel Lutheran, Eden Prairie
Kim Bonneson, 9th grader: $170, Faith Lutheran, Coon Rapids
Ian Tungseth, 8th grader: $100, Faith Lutheran, Coon Rapids
Naode Girma, age 18: $177, Progressive Baptist, St. Paul
Flannery Shannon, age 1: $131, Progressive Baptist, St. Paul

About All Metro 30 Hour Famine

All Metro 30 Hour Famine, a youth-driven missions event, where youth and adults fast together for 30 hours each year to raise money for World Vision. AM30HF event provides opportunity for youth to get a glimpse of the way most of the world lives; experience bringing relief to hungry children. Benefit: #1. The youth learn what it means to be hungry. #2. How to help. The AM30HF event usually drives them deeper into service and child sponsorship. For more information, visit AM30HF Press Room (www.GMNetwork.cc/pages/am30hf.html).

About World Vision

World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. World Vision serves the world’s poor regardless of a person’s religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, visit www.worldvision.org.

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Youth director makes vow to sport Mohawk

Mpls, MN (June 28, 2006 GMS) The positive results and impact from the All Metro 30 Hour Famine (AM30HF) event held April 28-29 moved faminer Paul Erdmann, who is the Senior High Youth Director at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, to maintain his new look he acquired as a result of the fundraiser challenge he accepted to shave his head. A similiar challenge had been made by event organzer Pastor Matthew Martin to the youth at his new church, Sheperd of the Hills in Hopkins, during the 2005 event.

Erdmann proudly shared that his faminer group had originally set a goal of $15,000, which would allow the group to shave any design they wanted to on his head and he'd keep it for a week. "It turns out the goal was a bit lofty. We ended up around $6,000, so I decided to let the top senior high and middle school fundraisers shave a side of my head. Our top fundraisers -- senior high student Justin Daleiden had collected $501.50 and middle school student Meredith Johnson had collected $400 -- each got to shave a side of my head. I now am sporting an awesome Mohawk!"

Since then, Erdmann believes that having made good on his vow may just keep the momentum up for the 2007 event. "I did keep it [mohawk] for 3 weeks, but shaved it back down for my nieces baptism in June."

The All Metro 30 Hour Famine 2006 event raised a total of $97,415, which continues to increase -- the goal was set at $100,000. The monies are dibusbursed to World Vision and FMSC. The Faminers also added to the fundraising a challenge to prepare, package and ship food to Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), a local faith-based nonprofit organization that organizes assemblage and shipment of nutritional meals to the most poverty-stricken parts of the world (www.fmsc.org). During the weekend, the teens packaged 300,242 meals to feed not just hungry or malnourished children, but starving children. A balance of $36,000 is the current challenge to cover FMSC food and shipping cost.

Anyone desiring to make a financial contribution and/or participate, may contact Pastor Matthew, Famine Organizer & Director, 952.935.3457 ext. 17 or email: matthew@sothchurch.com. Check should be made payable to: Feed My Starving Children (on hehalf of AM30HFamine), %Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, 500 Blake Road S, Hopkins, Minnesota 55343. The internationally recognized 30 Hour Famine event is held the last Friday and Saturday in February and April.

About All Metro 30 Hour Famine

All Metro 30 Hour Famine, a youth-driven missions event, where youth and adults fast together for 30 hours each year to raise money for World Vision. AM30HF event provides opportunity for youth to get a glimpse of the way most of the world lives; experience bringing relief to hungry children. Benefit: #1. The youth learn what it means to be hungry. #2. How to help. The AM30HF event usually drives them deeper into service and child sponsorship. For more information, visit AM30HF Press Room (www.GMNetwork.cc/pages/am30hf.html).

About World Vision

World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. World Vision serves the world’s poor regardless of a person’s religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, visit www.worldvision.org.

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Date Change June 9: All Metro 30 Hour Famine results to be announced Friday, June 2

Mpls, MN (May 25, 2006 GMS) The results of the All Metro 30 Hour Famine (AM30HF) event held April 28-29 with 35 churches and 9 denominations will be announced Friday, June 2. Funds raised by 30 Hour Famine participants help feed and care for children in poverty-afflicted countries around the globe. Metro event youth faminers from First Covenant, St. Paul are shown preparing food to be packaged and shipped to Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), a local faith-based nonprofit organization that organizes assemblage and shipment of nutritional meals to the most poverty-stricken parts of the world. The new release of the event documentary will be announced soon.

"29,000 kids under 5 die every day from hunger and preventable diseases. While a million youth and adults fast for 30 hours each year to raise money for World Vision [founder of the internationally recognized 30 Hour famine], the All Metro 30 Hour Famine is reaching unheard of proportions. Raising $100,000...a goal that high has never been set by a Famine group before..." remarks Organizer Pastor Matthew Martin. "We've already started planning our 2007 All Metro 30 Hour Famine event." Next year, 3,400 Metro Faminers from various denominations -- reflecting the rich diversity of our area -- will have their kick-off at the Minneapolis Conventionenter. "Our goal is to feed 5,000.

"We extend a call for volunteers to continue in service/giving opportunities," expresses Faminer participant from Progressive Baptist Church Renae Storbakken. "We want to encourage the event's participating youth to stay focused on and connected to, as well the community, the idea of "...giving is an ONGOING thing---not a one time thing. Yet, at the same time, encourage folk in the larger Christian community to seek out service opportunities as the Lord leads them. Service is something Christians of all ethnic groups & denominations can agree on....strongly consider getting involved in the All Metro 30 Hour Famine 2007 (AM30HR Famine)."

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Hundreds of area youth get a taste of hunger
'Famine’ raises awareness of starvation worldwide

By Felicia Shultz
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (5/10/06)

Twin Cities teens had their minds on food during the internationally recognized 30-Hour Famine on April 28-29. Not so much food for themselves, but food for others.

The event helps to raise money and promote awareness of the thousands of children around the world who die every day from starvation. More than 700 teens representing 33 churches of all faiths in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area participated, getting a spoonful of what life is like to live on an empty stomach, at least for a little while.

“The thing about it is we don’t think about being hungry,” Erica Larson said 22 hours into the hunger strike. Larson, a youth director from Oak Knoll Lutheran Church in Minnetonka, added, “What we think about are all the children who go without food every day.”

The teens camped out at Colonial Church of Edina where they spent the 30-Hour Famine sipping on nothing but water and McDonald’s orange drink. Orange is the international famine color, making the drink fitting for the occasion.

Dressed in orange t-shirts, the teens worked during the weekend to make a difference with the help of Feed My Starving Children, a local faith-based nonprofit organization that organizes assemblage and shipment of nutritional meals to the most poverty-stricken parts of the world. During the weekend, the teens packaged 300,000 meals to feed not just hungry or malnourished children, but starving children.

Cargill and General Mills chemists carefully crafted the meals to be highly nutritional, nonperishable and tasteful, according to Larson. They are made of a soy protein with chicken flavoring, dehydrated vegetables and rice. Illustrations on the packages make it easy to understand that the contents only need boiling water to be made into a meal.

“A couple of years ago when I participated in this hunger strike, we actually tasted the meals, and they are really good,” said Larson. “That was a wonderful feeling — just knowing that when the children do get these meals, they taste good.”

World Vision is a nonprofit Christian organization that organizes the hunger strike every year. World Vision reports that 40,000 children from birth to 18 years of age die every day from hunger — 29,000 of those deaths afflict children under five.

All the meals prepared by Twin-Cities teens will be flown straight to Zambia. Knowing this helps motivate Otis Clark and Timothy Ongen of Progressive Baptist Church in East St. Paul.

“I’ve learned that we can really do a lot to help,” said Ongen. “Being hungry hasn’t really been on my mind at all. Just knowing that we can do so much to help is really good.”

“The people at my church are socially aware and socially conscious to make a difference globally,” said Clark, a youth leader for Progressive Baptist.

The teens also participated in fundraising efforts before and during the weekend to help raise $100,000 for the meals they prepared.


World Vision holds 30-Hour Famine weekends in February, April and October. To participate, or to donate, call 1-800-7-FAMINE or visit www.30hourfamine.org. For more information on Feed My Starving Children, visit www.fmsc.org.

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Press Statement -
All Metro Famine event "3 dozen churches will raise $100,000 to fight hunger

Mpls., MN (April 24, 2006 GMS) "29,000 kids under 5 die every day from hunger and preventable diseases. While a million youth and adults fast for 30 hours each year to raise money for World Vision, the All Metro Famine is reaching unheard of proportions. 3 dozen churches will raise $100,000...a goal that high has never been set by a Famine group before. We will package 300,000 Feed My Starving Children meals, which will feed 822 kids (about the same number as Famine participants) for a YEAR; these kids would otherwise starve to death within a month.

All Metro Famine Teens are getting excited about it [internationally recognized 30 Hour Famine]...our top youth fundraiser -- from last year, a senior named Natalie Nash from Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran in Hopkins, is up to $1,010, while an 8th grader named Rebecca Gobel from St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Mendota Heights has raised $4,000! We can end world hunger within our children's lifetimes. Please support this effort with your prayers and donations," remarks Organizer Pastor Matthew Martin.

Event: The All Metro 30 Hour Famine (AM30HF) runs April 28-29; begin 7PM on 4/28. Location: 6200 Colonial Way, Edina, MN. Media Inquiries/Publicist: Grace Media Services (GMS), gms_client@GMNetwork.cc, 763.221.6894.

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American Teens Fast to Fight Hunger
700 to Participate in All Metro 30 Hour Famine 4/28-29

Mpls., MN (January 2006 GMS) Multiple natural disasters around the globe have dominated news headlines for the past year. Yet behind the scenes and out of the headlines, hunger and preventable disease have continued to claim the lives of the world’s children at a pace of 29,000 a day. The good news is that thousands of American teens are responding to this ongoing crisis, through World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine.

This April 28-29, teens nationwide are participating in the 15th annual 30 Hour Famine, forsaking food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world’s poorest children and families face on a daily basis.

Prior to the event weekend, teens raise funds by explaining that $30 a month – just $1 a day – can feed and care for a child for 30 days. Energized with compassion rather than food during their fast, over 700 hundred 30 Hour Famine participants from 35 churches from 9 different denominations in the metro area will gather at Colonial Church of Edina and consume only McDonald’s orange drink as they focus on activities that remind them of the purpose of their fasting and fundraising. Feed My Starving Children will be on-site for an around the clock service project that will result in 271,000 meals being packaged for kids who would otherwise not survive the month.

Funds raised by 30 Hour Famine participants help feed and care for children in poverty-afflicted countries around the globe. World Vision works in 100 countries, helping approximately 100 million people per year. Funds from the 30 Hour Famine contribute to World Vision’s response in areas where famine, conflict, and other crises make children vulnerable to hunger and preventable disease. For example, in the past year World Vision has responded to famine in Niger, widespread flooding in Central America, and a major earthquake in Pakistan that displaced more than 2 million people.

Famine funds raised in fiscal year 2005 totaled $11.6 million. The goal for 2006 is $15 million. In addition to national dates for U.S. teens to participate each February, April, and October, the 30 Hour Famine is an international student movement. Each year, about a million young people participate around the globe. To donate or participate in the Famine, visit www.30hourfamine.org or call 1-800-7-FAMINE.

“The 30 Hour Famine has a lasting impact, not just to the children receiving food, care, and education, but to Famine participants who view their own potential to affect change in their world very differently afterward,” said Debbie Diederich, national director of the World Vision 30 Hour Famine.

About All Metro 30 Hour Famine

All Metro 30 Hour Famine, a youth-driven missions event, where youth and adults fast together for 30 hours each year to raise money for World Vision. AM30HF event provides opportunity for youth to get a glimpse of the way most of the world lives; experience bringing relief to hungry children. Benefit: #1. The youth learn what it means to be hungry. #2. How to help. The AM30HF event usually drives them deeper into service and child sponsorship. For more information, visit AM30HF Press Room (www.GMNetwork.cc/pages/am30hf.html).

About World Vision

World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. World Vision serves the world’s poor regardless of a person’s religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, visit www.worldvision.org.

For information Contact: Pastor Matthew Martin, 935.935.3457 x13

For Media Inquiries/Publicist Contact: Grace Media Services (GMS), 763.221.6894 or Email: gms_client@GMNetwork.cc

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