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6-year-old Sophia is feeding children in Africa

By Shannon Burkey

Sophia Cucchiara has a dream. And though she's only 6 years old, she's well on her way to making it a reality.

Her dream is to feed 1,000 children in the African country of Malawi by raising $20,000 by August, and her passion and drive is inspiring those around her to join her in helping to put an end to world hunger.

Sophia decided she wanted to try and achieve this goal after watching the movie, "Ryan's Well," about a 6-year-old boy in Canada who was trying to raise $70 to build a well in Africa. Ryan exceeded his goal and today, at the age of 13, he has raised more than $1.5 million to build wells and bring clean drinking water to the people of Africa.

"The movie really inspired me because he was my age, and I learned there were children without homes and food," Sophia said. "So I decided that I had to think about someone else for once and help them."

Sophia's father, Chris Cucchiara, said he and his wife were a little surprised when she told them her goal when the movie was over.

"It just came right out of her mouth," Cucchiara said. "After the movie, she looked over at us and said, 'I want to feed 1,000 kids.' The movie obviously touched her."

Sophia's fundraising efforts began small. She put all of her birthday and allowance money into a big bowl, then she held a healthy bake sale, set up a lemonade stand, began dog sitting, called up her relatives and asked them to donate and held a garage sale, to which her neighbors donated items.

The idea seemed easy enough to Sophia, and she has never doubted that she would reach her goal.

"If you have allowance and you don't need it anymore, you put it into the bowl," she said.

Then she found the perfect organization to donate her money to--an organization she was sure would really help the children she had become so passionate about.

Her father's company, NuSkin Enterprises, has a philanthropic division that has an organization called Nourish the Children. Sophia decided it was the best place her money could go.

"Other organizations feed the children, but we nourish the children so that they can have healthy food. What they really need is vitamins," she said.

Since it began in 2002, Nourish the Children has become the fourth largest humanitarian aid organization in the United States and has provided more than 80 million servings of its nutrient-dense meal, VitaMeal.

The company found just feeding the children was not enough because their bodies were not getting the nutrients they needed to develop properly. It wanted to give children the nourishment they need to survive; its goal is eradicating world hunger in the next 10 years.

And though she said she is not exactly sure what VitaMeal consists of, Sophia knows that it is a good thing.

"I don't know why they call it VitaMeal, but they probably call it VitaMeal because the vitamins help the meal go down and nourish them to become stronger," she said.

Sophia began working on making her dream a reality just two months ago, and since then, she has raised $2,000 and fed 100 children. She has also inspired others to join her cause, and collectively they have raised enough money to feed 200 additional children.

"Sophia, with her dream, has energized our efforts," said Dr. Ken Howayeck, who works with the Bay Area Nourish the Children Cooperative. "She has ignited us. You can't help but be affected by her efforts. She is an amazing little girl."