Sometimes I find gift giving especially challenging. With all the need in the world, why the heck should I get Aunt Mary Lou a new apron? She has 10 already! What I really want to do is make a donation or give a charitable gift in her honor. But then there’s nothing tangible to unwrap and somehow the family turns me into the Scrooge of the season. “Why can’t Paige give normal gifts like everyone else?”

If a version of this story plays out for you, the Feed 100 Bag just might be the perfect option. Here’s the deal: you buy the Feed 100 stylish reusable shopping bag to give as a tangible gift and part of the proceeds go to providing 100 meals to hungry Rwandan school children.  Win-win, right?

The Bag
Designed solely for Whole Foods Market, the FEED 100 reusable bag is made of organic cotton and natural burlap and is produced with a commitment to ensuring fair treatment of workers, livable wages, overtime pay and safe, clean working environments. It is a lightweight, fresh white tote that collapses easily into its base, which is a zippered rectangular burlap pouch emblazoned with the FEED logo and the number 100. An eco-friendly fashion statement that helps educate people about hunger and what we can do to alleviate it. It’s perfect to use for your groceries and for about 50 million other things too.

The Good
Each bag purchased provides 100 nutritious meals to hungry school age children in Rwanda through the United Nation World Food Program’s School Feeding Program.  In 1994, Rwanda lost 800,000 men, women and children to genocide; as a result, the nation’s economy and social structures were decimated. School feeding is one of the most effective solutions to stopping hunger and breaking the poverty cycle. Since 2003, the World Food Program has provided free, nutritious school lunches to Rwanda’s children in 300 schools in the most food-deprived areas. Each hot, nutrient-rich meal draws boys and girls to school, helps them learn, and may be the only meal they have all day. School attendance has grown from 63 percent to 93 percent, and to help close the educational gender gap, girls with good attendance may receive extra rations to take home to their families. Girls with just a few years of education have fewer children, have them later in life, and are better prepared to care for and educate them.

The Cost
When a Whole Foods Market customer buys a FEED 100 bag, $10 is donated by the FEED Foundation to the World Food Program’s Rwanda School Feeding operation, with the remainder going to cover the costs of making the bag and oversight of the program by the FEED Foundation. The bags are produced with high-quality, 100% organic cotton and natural burlap.  All FEED bags are made as eco-friendly and fairly as possible in audited and certified fair labor facilities. To further help the initiative, Whole Foods Market is not making any profit on these bags – in fact many of our stores are offering this bag for a special price of $25 for the holiday season – kicking in our own donation to help feed hungry children. If you aren’t close to one of our stores, check out online ordering through FEED.

Hope this helps make your holiday shopping (and gift unwrapping) more rewarding!

To learn more about the FEED Foundation, visit their website or check out this video.

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