A brief guide to how Charlie's Lunch began, what it is doing, and how you can help.

Charlie's Lunch is a Christian, evangelical ministry aimed at ministering to the world's neediest children and their families. We are more than a relief organization. By expressing God’s eternal love and care in tangible, practical terms, Charlie’s Lunch offers hope and a future to children in hopeless situations. By addressing the real-life needs of children and their families, Charlie's Lunch gives people the opportunity to discover the life-changing difference Jesus can make. 



Charlie's Lunch Intro from Charlie's Lunch on Vimeo.

Charlie's Lunch India ~ Vijay Sagar Colony UPDATE June 2011

Hello friends of Charlie’s Lunch,

My name is Manjala Nagamani. I want to tell you a little about my family.

In my family there are seven members. There is my Dad & Mom; I have three brothers and a sister.

My mother works as a daily wage laborer doing whatever odd jobs she can get to make an earning, so we can survive. But my father doesn't work. I think my Dad is an Alcoholic, because he always drinks alcohol. This causes my Dad & Mom to have quarrels with each other. I can say, we have many problems in our family.

Another thing about our family is; we used to be idol worshippers, but recently about one year ago, we all came to know that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord.

Now we all go to the Charlie’s Lunch!
We are very blessed by attending the C. L. Feeding Center!!!

We have learned so many new songs and great Bible stories. They teach us about the importance of cleanliness and hygiene at the Charlie's Lunch Feeding Center.

All my brothers and my sister are able to go to school and receive a good education, but I need to go everyday for grazing of our families sheep! My father is not well. He is now bedridden and can’t work. Please pray for my Dad to become well & for me to be able to attend school for a good education.

What I have learned the most at Charlie’s Lunch Feeding Center is; I will get all the children together to pray. We ask God together to give us the needed help through Christ Jesus and He has brought us from very bad circumstances to a better place!

Thank You, very much for providing us with good food twice a week…

We are very happy for everything you are doing for us!

Manjala Nagamani

Rev. Lee Ruud – Area Director – Charlie’s Lunch – Hyderabad, India

Charlie's Lunch CHRISTMAS @ VJSC on March 23, 2011

Ravi: A Young Man of God!

Charlie's Lunch Boy Ravi on Dec 11, 2009

Ravi is shown serving the children of

Charlie's Lunch on Dec. 8, 2008

As many of you already know, I sent out a prayer request about a Boy named Ravi. I first met Ravi at one of the Charlie's Lunch Feeding Centers, in Necnapur Village, which is in Hyderabad City more than 5 years ago.

Ravi was being trained by Pastor Jeremiah and was an Assistant to the Pastor.

On August 29, 2010... Sunday night, after returning from one of the prayer meetings in the village near Virakrabad Road Ravi and the Pastor's brother were riding on a scooter. Ravi was riding as the passenger. It was raining very badly and the area was flooding. They both were swept away by a wave of water. The one man was able to recover, but Ravi had been missing. Many people had looked for Ravi for more than 30 hours.

Sadly, on Tuesday August 31, 2010 at about 12:30 pm, I received a telephone call from Pastor Jeremiah, that they found Ravi. His body was found in the same area of the small lake, where he had first fallen into.

Because he had been there for a long time, they needed to perform the burial & funeral immediately...

None of us could make it there to attend!

We are all very sad about the loss of this dear Young Man of God!

As I left to the USA on Sept 1, 2010, it had been a hard few days.

Please Pray... that God will bring much comfort to all who knew Ravi.

I believe God had a great purpose in calling Ravi home, so soon!!!

We appreciate all your prayers!

Rev. Lee Ruud, all the Charlie's Lunch Team & Children.

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Ravi in Dec 2007

Ravi at C. L. Feeding on DEC 2008

Charlie's Lunch Boys Ravi, Sham Sunder & Ganesh Dec 2009

Ravi Charlie's Lunch Volunteer & Rev. Lee Ruud Area Director

on Dec 16, 2008

Ravi at Charlie's Lunch

NECNAPUR - on July 19, 2010

Ravi on March 12, 2005

Charlie's Lunch Christmas is here....

What is Charlie's Christmas? Charlie's Christmas is an annual event and celebration which takes place in each CL feeding center across the world. The celebration includes a Christmas service, prayer, a meal, and the distribution of gifts like food, canned goods, medicine, hygiene products, tools, clothing, shoes and toys toys toys! The gifts are given not only to each child enrolled in Charlie's Lunch, but to their family as well!

If you would like to make a donation specifically towards the 2010 Charlie's Christmas just mark your donation as "Charlie's Christmas".

Why is Charlie's Christmas? The miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ is at the core of the development of the Christian faith. Charlie's Lunch believes each child ought to know and understand why God gave His only son to earth. Charlie's Christmas is an excellent way to communicate that message to the children, families, and whole community.

Please Pray:

Charlie's Lunch Christmas to be a reality Around The World!!!

Charlie's Lunch in Hyderabad, India...was first started @ Rasoolpura Slum in January 2005.

Power Prayer Church... Charlie’s Lunch place Bro. Victor Suresh leading during singing of the Songs & Kids enjoying Bible Classes... Kids are enjoying in singing...	01.20.2005 - Rasoolpura Slum, India It was a great blessing and time of FUN for the slum kids to attend Charlie's Lunch Ministries Feeding Program and receiving the blessings for the Spirit and Body. We were able to start Charlie's Lunch in Rasoolpura Slum in the 1st week of January 2005 and from that day onwards we are doing regular Bible Classes for Kids. Children receive spiritual education. The church location we’re using to conduct Charlie's Lunch for the kids is nice and very pleasant with low disturbance from anybody. A total of 30 children are registered with Charlie’s Lunch Feeding Program and presently 20 kids are coming regularly. Some of the kids are not able to come regularly because they are accompanying there parents for Daily Labor work. We are also visiting their Houses. It was great time for everybody having a wonder full time with Gods word and about life. Among the kids there are Hindu children and Muslim children. They are also enjoying the songs and Bible Lessons. This was great privilege for them to learn about God & the Good News of Jesus Christ! Charlie’s Lunch, Rasoolpura Slum, Hyderabad, A.P., INDIA... C.L. Director Lee Ruud Charlie's Lunch Ministries at Rasoolpura Slum, A.P., INDIA	Kids are enjoying the Bible Classes and they are attending regularly. Bro. Ravi leading in Prayer... VERY interested in Charlie's Lunch Ministries! Kids are coming to Charlie's Lunch Ministries and learning about God!

STILL HUNGRY

One eight of the World's people do not have enough to eat

Steps that need to be taken

to feed the world.

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The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that chronic hunger and malnutrition currently plagues 820 million people, over one-eighth of today's world population of 6.8 billion. By 2050, the world population is expected to reach 9 billion. To accommodate this growth, the FAO warns that the world will have to nearly double its current output of food, feed, and fiber. Without new technology and innovative farming methods, this goal will be very hard to meet. Most of the world's poor and hungry live in the rural areas of less developed countries, where small-scale agriculture constitutes the main economic activity.

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During the 30 minutes it will take you to

read this article, 360 preschool children

will die of hunger and malnutrition.

Twelve a minute, around the clock; more than

six million a year. But that is only the tip of the

proverbial and ugly iceberg. One in four preschoolers

in developing countries suffers from

hunger and nutritional deficiencies.

These children

do not grow to their full potential, they

have little resistance to disease, they learn less

in school and they earn less as adults. Because

of low birth weight, they are handicapped from

the moment they enter the world.

More than 800 million people—two and a

half times the population of the U.S.—live every

day with hunger, or “food insecurity,” as it is

often called, as their constant companion.

Many more have micronutrient deficiencies:

they do not get essential vitamins or minerals in

their diets. Insufficient iron, and the anemia

that comes with it, is the most widespread of

these maladies.

The problem does not stem, as some might

t

hink, from insufficient production. The world

is awash in food, and more and more people are

overeating.

The so-called nutrition transition,

in which diets change from basic grains and tubers

to meat, dairy products and processed

foods high in sugar and fat, is in full force in developing

countries, bringing with it a dual nutritional

problem of deficiencies and hunger in

some households and obesity and related diseases

in others.

Technological advances in agriculture

mean more food is grown at lower cost

than ever before. Globalization, improved communication

and efficient transport have facilitated

the movement of food over long distances

at reasonable rates.

In fact, enough food is now

being produced to meet the energy and protein

needs of every person on the planet.

Knowledge

about nutrition is widely available, and the large

humanitarian and economic costs of hunger

and malnutrition are well documented—as are

the benefits of eliminating these afflictions.

The main reason hunger and nutritional deficiencies

persist is poverty; many millions of

households simply cannot afford to buy nutritious

food or the farming supplies they need to

grow enough of their own. And this poverty is

sustained by poor access to family planning and

reproductive health care and by diseases that

spread because of poor sanitation and dirty

drinking water, among other factors.

Effective action to reduce hunger must be

based on a thorough understanding of who the

hungry are, where they are, and exactly why

they are malnourished.

In the pages that follow,

we lay out the best current knowledge on these

questions and on the steps that need to be taken

to feed the world.

Hunger may be long-term, or it may be transitory.

Long-term hunger is pervasive among people

caught in the trap of poverty. Although not

all poor people are hungry, almost all hungry

people are poor. The great majority—75 percent—

of the chronically underfed live in rural

areas of developing countries. They are landless,

frequently unemployed or employed at very low

wages. Or they are farmers with small land

holdings and limited access to other assets,

credit and agricultural necessities such as fertilizers

and crop protection. They live in households

headed by women with little wage-earning

capacity or in households in which the

adults suffer from illnesses such as HIV/AIDS.

They are orphans and other individuals without

families. They are usually invisible to decision

makers in the societies where they reside, and

the term “silent hunger” describes their condition

poignantly.

Transitory hunger caused by natural or human-

made disasters such as droughts, floods,

earthquakes, conflicts or bad policies tends not

to be silent.

Most of us have seen haunting images

of the starvation that occurs during such famines.

And the world has demonstrated its generosity

in helping the victims of transitory hunger,

although they represent only a small part—roughly

10 percent—of the world’s hungry.

Like the

chronically hungry, they are usually found in ru

ral areas, primarily in Africa and Asia. These

rural populations depend almost exclusively on

agriculture; they have very few alternative

sources of income, and they are therefore very

vulnerable to shocks of nature. Although natural

disasters continue to undermine people’s

food security in various regions of the world,

hunger hot spots in recent years have switched

to areas affected by human-induced devastation.

Between 1992 and 2003, armed conflicts

and economic problems accounted for more

than 35 percent of food emergencies, compared

with around 15 percent between 1986 and

1991.

Hunger and malnutrition affect two groups

of people disproportionately.

The first is preschool

children: some 146 million are underweight

because of chronic or acute hunger. This

means that 18 percent of all hungry people are

children younger than five years. Child hunger

is frequently passed on from mothers who themselves

are malnourished; about 20 million children

are born underweight annually. Undernourished

youngsters are less motivated to play

and study, and many fail to get even the most

rudimentary education. Millions leave school

prematurely. Chronic hunger also delays or

stops physical and mental growth. Most tragically,

infectious diseases such as measles or

whooping cough can kill undernourished children

more readily than well-fed ones.

Women and girls are also more likely to be

victims of hunger: more than 60 percent of the

world’s hungry are female.

Although women

are by and large the main producers of food

throughout the world, social structures and traditions

often mean that they get less to eat than

men do.

For example, whereas around 25 percent

of men in developing countries have anemia

caused by a lack of iron, 45 percent of women

in the same regions are affected. Every day

300 women die during childbirth because of

iron deficiency.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

of the United Nations estimates that an annual

average of 854 million people were undernourished

over the period from 2001 through 2003:

820 million in developing countries, 25 million

in transition countries (such as the former members

of the Soviet Union) and nine million in

industrial countries. A disproportionate share

of the poorest and most food-insecure people

live in Africa, although the Asia-Pacific region

has the largest absolute number of chronically

undernourished residents. The developing countries

as a group did see declines between the

periods of 1990–1992 and 2001–2003, but the