As published by The Oklahoman, article by Ken Raymond:
Feed The Children has been honored with a 2012 Top-Rated Award by GreatNonprofits, which rates nonprofits based on user reviews.
Volunteers, clients and donors posted written reviews of the Oklahoma City-based charity on GreatNonprofits.org.
“We got enough favorable reviews that we earned a spot,” said Mark Opgrande, Feed The Children’s public relations manager. “Less than 1 percent of all nonprofits will receive this rating in 2012.”
The website currently includes 80 comments about the charity dating to Christmas 2009. A recent post reads: “Feed The Children provides food, medical supplies, books, and household supplies at no cost to our Food Pantry to help our region’s most desperate families. We are truly blessed to be associated with them and are grateful for all they do.”
Another states: “Feed The Children has been such a help to our organization for the homeless in Florida. They connect us with local food donations that help us serve more families in our region.”
Overall, commenters gave the charity 4.5 out of a possible 5 stars. The bulk of the reviews came from clients served (23), experts (18) and volunteers (15).
“We are excited to be named a Top-Rated 2012 Nonprofit,” Tony Sellars, the charity’s spokesman, said in a news release. “We are proud of our accomplishments, including more than 435,000 families served on our Americans Feeding Americans Campaign and 350,000 meals provided daily worldwide.”
The timing of the award is beneficial, the release notes. Donors tend to look for charities to support during the holidays. Feed The Children has an active holiday schedule lined up.
“We’ve got lots of food distributions scheduled all over the country,” Opgrande said. “We’re proud to be helping out the Red Andrews (Christmas) Dinner again this year (in Oklahoma City). Usually we distribute 400 boxes of food and 400 boxes of personal items. This year we’re bringing them 1,000 boxes of personal care items … toiletries, soap, cleaning supplies, everyday items.
“We’re giving food for 1,200 families at the Angel Tree again this year for the Salvation Army. We give them several truckloads each year. We’re doing another truck next week with Operation Homefront in Oklahoma City; that’s 400 families we’re going to help out. …
“We’ve got a lot coming up in Oklahoma City that we’re proud of, but again, we’re doing it in Florida, Los Angeles, North Carolina. … We have feeding centers in 10 different countries, plus all the programs we have in the U.S.”
Such efforts are what helped the charity earn its top rating.
“We are gratified by Feed The Children for its work,” Perla Ni, chief executive officer of GreatNonprofits, said in the release. “They deserve to be discovered by more donors and volunteers who are looking for a great nonprofit to support.”