The Outreach Program
In 2004, Floyd and Kathy were volunteering in the drought-stricken village of Nkungi, Tanzania, where children were starving. When Kathy saw the fifth child die of hunger, she cried to Floyd, “We have to do something, we can’t allow these children to die like this”. They bartered maize for baskets. They met with local village leaders and elders and asked for a prioritized list of what they needed to make their villages sustainable. Their answers were the most critical elements of life which became the focus of The Outreach Program: safe water, food, medical care, and education. Since then, they have distributed over 600 million meals worldwide, built the Gunda secondary school, built two children’s centers that feed over 1200 kids each school day, implemented clean water systems, and created a Porta-Doc to provide medical care to rural Tanzanian villages.
The Outreach Program 5,000th Point of Light Award
After 10 years of working to fulfill these four Outreach promises, Floyd and Kathy were invited to the White House in 2013 by President Obama and former President Bush to receive the 5,000th Point of Light Award.
Floyd and Kathy have also been inducted into the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame and Outreach received the Global Empowerment Award by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Artist and Athletes Committee in 2013.
Chris Romero, Regional Manager,
The Outreach Program California
Romero has been in working in the nonprofit sector for over twenty years and has worked in the hunger insecurity arena directly with meal packaging events for over 8 years. Romero has partnered with Rotary clubs and groups all over the West Coast. A three-time AmeriCorps alum; he’s managed volunteer programs and nonprofit events for a variety of great organizations including KaBOOM!, the YMCA and the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. Romero has a passion for introducing students to volunteerism and bringing communities together around critical needs projects. Through different meal packaging programs, he has helped groups package and donate over 12 million meals to domestic and international feeding organizations.
Our Mission
The Outreach Program is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) corporation with the mission to provide safe water, food, medical care and education to those in need at home and abroad.
