Dating back to when she was only 5 years old, Carleigh Steinbiss has volunteered to support Feed My Starving Children – a Christian nonprofit that raises funds and organizes packing events to prepare nutritious meals for children in need around the world.
The graduate of Our Lady of Hope Regional School, Blackwood, is now a senior attending Paul VI High School, Haddonfield. She has gone from volunteering to organizing packing events herself and involving faculty and students in both schools.
“I realize how fortunate I am to be able to be a part of something so special and want to continue to help others throughout my life,” she said. “As a teenager, you take a lot of things for granted, and when you look at the bigger picture, you realize that there are so many suffering.”
In January 2023, the now-17-year-old organized her first MobilePack event at Our Lady of Hope and was able to raise more than $30,000 and mobilize some 579 volunteers to pack 108,864 meals – enough to feed 295 children for an entire year.
Last month, Steinbiss put together a second event that drew 656 volunteers and packed meals that will benefit 298 children. Some of those packed meals – 432 boxes, to be exact – have already been sent to children in South Sudan to address a critical need there.
“Some of the villages that we are intending to help are praying that they live to see another day,” she said. “They don’t know how they are going to feed their children and themselves.”
Steinbiss was able to use her relationships at both her current and former schools to help recruit enough volunteers for the second packing event. “Our Lady of Hope was such a great partner. They opened up the school and allowed the community to really experience this amazing service,” she said, adding that the packing sessions included students in grades three through eight. “The kids actually had their parents bring them back to pack again because they loved it.”
Steinbiss said that having volunteered for Feed My Starving Children for so long, it was difficult to see packing events shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic. That was one of the factors that initially spurred her interest in organizing her own initiatives.
“We worked hard setting up this huge event and really educated the community about it so we could make sure everyone participated,” she said. “The community was so inspired, and we decided to make some goals and move forward every year. I have people calling and writing me to say they are excited for the next one and want to get more involved. I feel blessed that I was able to provide this community service event for everyone to participate and really feel the love.”
Steinbiss said that she has learned a lot about service, and values like empathy, both through her Catholic education and her experience supporting Feed My Starving Children.
She added that the volunteers attending her events pray over the meals they pack. “The Feed My Starving Children staff ask who would like to say the prayer,” she said, “and there are some in the community who jump at the opportunity.”
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