Food for Life Global

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, who inspired Food for Life

Food for Life as a project was initially inspired by an elderly Indian Swami, known as A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of ISKCON. In 1974 when watching a group of village children fighting with dogs over scraps of food, the Swami became upset and told his students, "No one within ten miles of a temple should go hungry... I want you to immediately begin serving food."[3] In response to his plea, members of ISKCON and volunteers around the world were inspired to expand that original effort into a global network of kitchens, cafes, vans, and mobile services, all providing free food, and establishing daily delivery routes in many large cities around the world. Since that day, Food for Life has grown into the world’s largest vegan/vegetarian food relief program. The distribution of sanctified plant-based meals has been and will continue to be an essential part of India’s Vedic culture of hospitality from which Food for Life was born.

With volunteers serving up to 2,000,000 free plant-based meals daily to schools, as well as from mobile vans and to disaster areas. FOOD FOR LIFE is now the largest food relief in the world, eclipsing even the United Nations World Food Programme.

Food For Life volunteers have provided food for the poor and homeless during several recent disasters.

• 2015 – Food for Life Nepal provided over 100,000 vegan meals to survivors of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.
• 2013 – Food for Life provided vegan food relief to survivors of Cyclone Phailin in India and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
• 2008 – Food For Life served freshly cooked vegan meals to survivors of Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike in the southern United States.
• 2007 – Food For Life volunteers were on the ground to feed many of the hundreds of thousands of survivors who were left homeless after the deadliest cyclone to hit Bangladesh in a decade.
• 2005 – Following the earthquake in Pakistan, Food For Life volunteers worked side-by-side with local military and police personnel, distributing drinking water, food, tents and blankets.
• 2005 – When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast with deadly force, Food For Life volunteers were among the first responders, distributing up to 800 freshly cooked meals daily to needy families in Mississippi and Texas.
• 2004 – 2005 A killer Tsunami wreaked caused massive damage to areas in South Asia, resulting in the deaths of nearly 200,000 people. Food For Life volunteers joined the relief effort on the very day of the disaster, providing thousands of meals daily, along with medical care, clothing, and shelter in Sri Lanka and India.
• 1990s – Food For Life volunteers risked their lives in the war-torn countries of Chechnya, Bosnia and Abkhazia, distributing food to needy and frightened civilians.

In total, Food for Life Global has distributed more than 6 billion meals since its inception.

Food for Life has expanded its reach to include, eco-projects such as Working Villages International; as well as orphanages such as Gokulam – Bhaktivedanta Children’s Home Gokulam in Sri Lanka, a refuge where needy children receive food, shelter, medical care, education and loving care.

Although some Food for Life Global affiliates were not able to respond to the crisis because of lockdown and social distancing guidelines, many were able to provide freshly cooked vegan meals to needy people and first responders, including throughout India, Russia, Ukraine, England, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, to name a few.

Food for Life Global's principal affiliate, the Food for Life Annamrita program, was founded by ISKCON Food Relief Foundation (IFRF), believes in providing children with the right nutrition to support their education. IFRF's Food for Life Annamrita program is based on the belief that "you become what you eat." The nutritious meals this program serves daily encourages over a million children to attend school. One of their goals is to help every child in India get a full education by providing wholesome meals. They are currently serving 1.3 million meals daily from dozens of high-tech kitchens across 10 states.

Food for Life Global (FFLG) was founded in 1995 in Maryland USA but closed its offices at the end of 2014. It re-established its offices in Slovenia in 2015 where it continued to serve as the headquarters and coordinating office for all Food for Life projects worldwide. However, in 2017, the Slovenian office became the European headquarters and a new US office was established in Wilmington, Delaware, to serve as the headquarters for the Americas.
Food for Life Global - Americas 3911 Concord Pike #8030 Wilmington, DE 19803 EIN: 36-4887167
Humanitarno društvo FFL Global Usnjarska cesta 9, 1241 Kamnik, Slovenia
Registration number 4077911000 (matična številka) TAX ID Nr. 28209397 (davčna številka).
Phone: USA: +1 202 407-9090 EUROPE: + 386 70 333 108 AUSTRALIA: +61 2 8006 1081 SOUTH AMERICA: +57 320 485 5971

Paul Rodney Turner, also known as Priyavrata das or the "food yogi," is the international director. Along with Mukunda Goswami and Rukmini Walker, they co-founded the original Food for Life Global charity in 1995. The new executive committee for Food for Life Global offices in USA and Europe can be found here:[7]

• Coordinating and expanding the distribution of sanctified plant-based meals all over the world to the disadvantaged, malnourished, and victims of disasters.
• Producing promotional and training materials for the development of Food for Life projects worldwide.
• Presenting Food for Life to governments, the media, and the general public through public lectures, newspaper articles, the Internet, and mail.
• Promoting the Vedic culture of hospitality and spiritual equality throughout the world.
• Raising funds on behalf of Food for Life worldwide.
• Helping establish pure food prepared and served with loving intention as a viable means to create peace and unity in the world.
• Organizing and sponsoring emergency vegan relief efforts conducted by Food for Life volunteers.

In the early years of Food for Life Global, Paul Rodney Turner aspired to find a way to fulfill the vision of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami who stated that "everyone should get a chance to take prasadam." Figuring that it was impossible to reach everyone with the small number of volunteers that serve in Food for Life, Turner realized that the solution was to teach people about prasadam, empowering them with the knowledge of spiritualizing their relationship with food. His book, FOOD YOGA - Nourishing Body, Mind, & Soul was the culmination of many years of research and meditation and serves to directly educate the public about how to become prasadarians. [8]

Food Yoga is a completely new approach to holistic living. Until now, philosophies on healthy living and nutrition have focused on the mechanics of health and happiness, exclusively focusing on the body alone. In doing so, these philosophies have promoted practices and diets that in one way or another have alienated vast numbers of people. As a result, despite volumes of literature and research, there is no consensus on what diet or mode of living is best. What they have all failed to identify is one underlying truth that connects us all and from which all health systems can be reconciled and/or elevated to their ultimate stature. That truth is: our constitutional nature is spirit and we are all spiritually equal. Any healthy living program, therefore, needs to address the “nutritional” needs of the body, mind, and spirit. [9]

Although Food for Life started out as a vegetarian food relief, in 1998, a policy was adopted by Food for Life Global that it would only financially support Food for Life projects that served vegan meals. [10]

• ISKCON
• Srila Prabhupada

• [http://www.ffl.org Food for Life Homepage