“They told us, ‘Bring plates and spoons!’” Nothabo remembered. “But we wanted to feel it,” she said, still not believing that the meals were real.

For Nothabo, the idea that anyone would want to help her and her family was a foreign concept. So, when her school began to receive assistance from a feeding program provided by the partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries, she was skeptical.

“It was not easy to believe that someone is going to offer you food,” Nothabo explained, thinking back to her school days when food was scarce in her home in Zimbabwe. “Growing up I was brought [up] by a single mother, and there was a severe drought… my mom couldn’t afford everything that we really needed.”

But it was real…and the meals she received made a significant difference. “It’s really changed my life,” she explained. “That motivated me to attend school, and it also improved my academic performance.”

Not only that, but those meals inspired her future. You inspired her to do the same for others. She had always wanted a career that allowed her to work with people, but the meals gave her a new idea.

“I knew that [I was going to do] something that…has to do with advocating and empowering the vulnerable communities—like someone did to me when I was still at school,” she said.

Today Nothabo works as a social worker—giving back to her community, because of the way she was first given the tools she needed to succeed. “I always think it's all God that brought me this far,” she mused. “It was not easy. Even in the Bible it says, ‘with God nothing is impossible,’ so after all, I always thank God for bringing [me] this far.”

This is just one example of how food changes lives—enabling more people to chase their dreams and give back in a multitude of ways. This year, for Giving Tuesday, you can help to feed children and families in Zimbabwe by joining our Fill the Silos campaign.

Our goal is to fill the two silos at The Hope Factory in Zimbabwe—a 5,000-square-foot food manufacturing plant. Since it opened in 2024, the factory has been producing and storing high-quality meals made from Corn Soya Blend Plus (CSB+), which fulfills 75% of a child’s daily nutritional needs.

For over 20 years, Hand of Hope, Joyce Meyer Ministries World Missions has fed children and shared the Gospel in Zimbabwe schools. Thanks to you, we currently feed over 50,000 children here each school day!

Will you help us fill the silos? The shining silos reaching to the sky over the Hope Factory are where it all begins. These enormous steel tanks filled with corn and soy hold the future of entire communities. They are the key to full bellies…and pave the way for the dreams of kids like Nothabo.

Just $47 is enough to make 1,000 meals! Isn’t that amazing? If 5,000 people gave $47 each, that will be enough corn and soy to provide 5 million meals to children across Zimbabwe.

Please help us to fill the silos by giving $47—and imagine the difference those meals will make in the lives of the children who receive them. Every dollar counts when feeding the hungry!