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Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, along with corporate leaders Tony Bartel and Sam Caster took time out recently to applaud the efforts of inner city leader Randy Skinner and his efforts to eradicate malnutrition and hunger. Skinner is the founder of the nonprofit FEED 3, which focuses on hunger and malnutrition eradication with a pro-business approach. Skinner is also co-founder of the Dallas Hunger Summit and Coalition.

The event, which celebrated FEED 3’s five-year history, brought together leaders of nonprofits, faith, and corporate supporters of FEED 3’s efforts.

Mayor Rawlings, speaking of FEED 3 said, “This is what makes our city special. Our city is known for grabbing an issue and addressing it in a big and successful way. Randy Skinner has done that around hunger. It’s marvelous to see his work and to see how God works through him as well”.

Mayor Rawlings admitted that when first approached by Skinner to confront poverty and hunger in Dallas, he was skeptical of the numbers. "The sad part is we are the tale of two cities. Because people don’t realize, this, the poverty in Dallas leads the nation. We are the number one city of children growing up in poverty. Something like 38% go to bed and wake up in poverty. When Randy kept talking to me about his initiative with hunger, I had a tough time intellectually understanding it." said Rawlings.

"I started studying it, talking with families, going to schools. There are so many kids that don’t have the basics. We have thousands of kids that don’t have a mattress to sleep on. I feel specially called to solve these issues in the right way. It's the right thing to do, it’s a biblical thing, also it’s good business sense." Rawlings concluded.

Along with Mayor Rawlings, was Tony Bartel, President of a Fortune 300 Company with annual sales of over $3.6 billion.  Bartel shared his own personal journey and struggle with poverty.

Speaking from the heart, Bartel, whose team led his company to the world’s largest gaming retailer, shared that he had been haunted by poverty and hunger for years.

“I grew up in an agricultural community of 3,000. We were middle class. My idea was anyone in poverty was lazy. That was our idea, if you had a Protestant work ethic, you could pull yourself out of poverty!” said Bartel.

Even as a young seven-year-old boy, wrestling with this idea, something didn’t seem right.  He recalls traveling to the inner city and seeing poverty. “This would haunt me, even in high school, I wanted to do something to meet that need.”

Bartel went on to college and graduated, became a CPA, married and began his family. Along with his wife, Bartel began helping families in need with financial counseling. Climbing the corporate ladder, he eventually became Chief Administrative Officer for NCH Corporation and Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo/Yum Brands/Pizza Hut.

Bartel shared that he was so moved to help impoverished communities that he left the corporate world to serve in the nonprofit sector. This included a trip to the Middle East to the war torn areas of Lebanon.  Upon his return home, Bartel was encouraged by faith and corporate leaders that the best way he could help end poverty was to use his influence in the corporate world.

Bartel and his wife committed to researching charities that helped with hunger, poverty, and sex trafficking. “I’ve done billions of dollars of acquisition over my lifetime. When you do an acquisition you find a great business and invest in it”.

He continued: “I do my due diligence. I want to know what this charity is about, what resources go to their mission statement. What’s their leader about, are they about humility? Then we can ask, are they customer focused?  Do they understand the true needs of the customer and are they committed to meeting that? Do they believe in the dignity of the people they are dealing with each and every day? These are the questions that we ask. That is the way we think, do business, and ask about charities we want to invest in”.

Bartel concluded:

 “Like Oswald Chambers said: ‘The greatest teacher is one who takes the truth of which we have quietly struggled and gives it clarity and definition and allows you to declare it boldly.’ We did our due diligence, and said we can participate and make a difference by being involved and follow our money into this deal and work with Randy and this organization, FEED 3.”

Sam Caster, founder of the nonprofit Manna Relief, also shared his personal journey of feeding children throughout the world with over 80 million meals. He also discussed Manna Relief’s new partnership with FEED 3 to help end malnutrition in the United States.

FEED 3 has begun utilizing the nutritional product developed by Manna Relief in the feeding of children in Texas. For every bar purchased for needy children or adults, FEED 3 will match that purchase with an additional bar for needy children in our target areas of relief. In addition to the match, FEED 3 will also provide funds from the purchase to help launch self-sustainable feeding sites.

The evening also featured Grammy Award winning songwriter Anthony Skinner from Nashville, Tennessee.