Grassroots Movement to Fight Hunger Enables 13 Million Meals in North Texas

The mission of fighting hunger in North Texas is getting a big boost this month thanks to a grassroots movement in the Indian American community.

"So we basically said just as August 15th is freedom day for India we've declared the whole month of August as freedom from hunger month," said Raj Asava, co-founder of HungerMitao.

Raj Asava and his wife Anna of Plano founded HungerMitao, which translates to "wipe out hunger," five years ago when they learned of the need for food in North Texas through conversations with the North Texas Food Bank. It was a surprising revelation in part because of optics and cultural differences.

"We live in the suburbs, and we don't see homelessness," Anna Asava said. "We don't see hunger around us. And people who have come from Asian countries, there is a disconnect because there, we see hunger all around us. And in India for instance, where we come from, homelessness equaled hunger. It's very different here. Most of the people who come to food banks or food pantries have a permanent roof over their heads, so hunger in some ways is hidden."

Once the need was exposed, the Asavas took action. They donated their own money and brainstormed ideas to make a bigger impact. The search led back to their own community and HungerMitao was born.

The Asavas rallied the Indian American community in North Texas and around the country. Their effort to increase awareness worked. Five years later, this community has enabled13 million meals in North Texas. And through a partnership with Feeding America and food banks in Fort Worth, Houston, Atlanta, New York City, and Seattle, HungerMitao has now enabled more than 50 million meals.

The tally went up again a few days ago. Fort Worth-raised entrepreneur and philanthropist Niraj Bhatia was in town from California. The Asavas and Bhatia's parents are family friends and had talked with him about supporting HungerMitao. Bhatia was moved to help and took the Million Meal pledge. It's a HungerMitao program at Feeding America where a donation of $100,000 equals a million meals at the food bank of the donor's chose. Bhatia's visit home was to make a $100,000 donation and tour the North Texas Food Bank.

The tour and the people he met got Bhatia thinking he wanted to do more.

"It's inspired me to give more. So, I think I'm gonna double my donation," he told NBC DFW right before the check presentation.

The NTFB staff had the big ceremonial check for $100,000 ready to go for a photo op, then Bhatia dropped his surprise.

"Here on the spot, I'm going to double it," Bhatia told the crowd. His announcement was met with a roar of applause. Bhatia then changed the ceremonial check to reflect his $200,000 donation. An amount that will enable NTFB to provide two million meals.

"Love helping the community," Bhatia said. "That's also something that was extremely important for my dad to teach me growing up. Focus on your local community as much as you live. That's where you live. You can be active financially. You can be active just with your time. A lot of people I talk to who are young don't have financial stuff to give and they say, what can I do? Just volunteer or do some other things that can contribute in a positive way."

"He's a young person who decided not just to dabble," Anna said. "He decided to make a substantial commitment."

Anna Asava has also increased her own commitment to the mission by joining the NTFB board of directors.

"I believe the board should reflect the community it serves," Anna said. "So, if there's diversity in the community that is being supported, it also needs to be represented at a board level. With HungerMitao, the movement has just been so phenomenal and the people in the Indian American community have really embraced the cause and the model. And in a way, it's really gratifying to see that now we have a seat at the table. So, we feel more invested. It's not an issue of other people around us. It's our issue. It's something that we can and we are engaged to solve."

The HungerMitao model that has inspired the Indian American community is catching on. Nihao Food Bank Initiative is a Chinese American grassroots effort to raise awareness about hunger in North Texas and increase engagement among the Chinese American diaspora. A similar campaign will launch in October in the Latinx community.

"People are not aware of the magnitude of the hunger issue that exists right in our backyard, our front yard," Raj Asava said. "So when a community member is out there communicating it, it has a much bigger impact than the food bank's staff telling them about the hunger issue."

Now, the issue of hunger is once again in the forefront as North Texans grapple with higher food costs and gas prices.

"For people whose budgets were already stretched, this is doing a number on them, and so the food lines are just increasing," Anna Asava said.