Rice for Cambodian Families

Give nourishing food, and the hope for a better life, to the poorest of the poor -- families who used to scavenge on the massive, toxic garbage dump near Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Steung Meanchey is a massive open-air garbage dump on the outskirts of Cambodia's capital city, Phnom Penh. Imagine the desperate poverty that has led people to live near -- even in -- this toxic, dangerous "hell on earth," picking through the trash for anything that can be sold to recyclers to buy another day of food.

With the worldwide spike in the price of staple foods over the past year and a half, all the hard, dangerous work these families perform is often not enough even to afford plain rice. An estimated 45% of Cambodia's children suffer from malnutrition, but for children working in the dump, the rate is closer to 100%.

There is hope from an unlikely source: Cambodian Children's Fund (CCF), founded and led by Scott Neeson, former Hollywood film executive, who walked away from a successful 26-year career and sold his assets in order to help the poorest of the poor.

Cambodian Children's Fund is working to help the families and children of the Steung Meanchey garbage dump. CCF's subsidized rice distribution plan has become the lynchpin of the community food assistance program. Families who would otherwise be unable to afford the high cost of rice can buy this staple food through CCF at a fraction of market prices. Prices are pegged at pre-inflation rates of January 2008.

Through this weekly distribution process, hundreds of people are able to afford sufficient rice, keeping families healthy and together. The money CCF receives from the sale of this rice is re-invested in additional rice to keep the program going.

You can help. This Gift That Gives More™ funds $26.00 to cover 50 kilos of rice for CCF's rice distribution plan. CCF is also committed to bringing clean water and education to the families of Steung Meanchey, and to the eventual goal of saving every single person from a life as "human garbage."

Update from the Field

March 2018

Thanks to YOUR donations, the Cambodian Children's Fund has been able to provide over 1,000 residential children nutritious meals every day! CCF has been able to expand their efforts to provide evening food programs at multiple satellite locations around Cambodia. Your donations have helped serve evening meals to over 100 community members each and every day! Families are no longer suffering from malnutrition and there has been a significant drop in school absences caused by diet-linked health issues.

Your donations are helping people like Soun Yon (pictured to the right). Soun Yon is 72 years old and takes care of her four grandchildren, all of whom are now in the CCF education program. Soun Yon has had a difficult life. When her husband passed away, she moved to Phnom Penh hoping to find a job to support her children and grandchildren, but was only able to find work as a scavenger. She had to walk all day to scavenge for metal and plastic scraps which she could sell for a small amount of money, and scavenging was wearing her body out. Soun Yon was barely making enough money to support her family. In 2012, CCF accepted Soun Yon into their program and helped her get food on the table and provide supplies to support her family.

"I have a new life because of [this program]. With the regular rice support provided to me, which is 30kg per month, my grandchildren and I don't have to worry about not having anything to eat. My health is better after I stopped scavenging. It's a great program for poor elders."
— Soun Yon

Cambodian Children's Fund (CCF) is a nonprofit organization working to improve the lives of Phnom Penh's most impoverished children and families. Providing hundreds of children with nutrition, housing, healthcare, and vocational training, CCF gives them the tools to break the cycle of poverty.