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Providing Hope

The Story of Miracle Meals

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In 1995, I, Theresa San-Nicolas founded Miracle Meals. The economy was bad due to the Japanese yen. Certain Government projects that were designed to help lower income families never happened. Such as homes that were to have been built for lower income families. When these homes seized to exit for these families they became homeless forcing them to the local parks and beaches. These Families would tie a tarp from one Coconut tree to the next or pop up a tent and call it home for shelter. They would cook their meals over an open flame or on a small hibachi / grill. They slept on Futons, Tatami mats and sleeping bags. Their children ran around in diapers.

When I saw this it broke my heart. It was devastating to see these families: Grandmas, Grandpas, Moms, Dads and children, homeless. I thought to myself, "This is wrong!" We are the United States of America!... not to mention Hawaii! Paradise! We should not have this in our Country! Then I thought about myself how lucky and blessed I was to have a home and a job. However, this also made me feel guilty. I was very fortunate and others were not. I thought to myself, I need to do something. I need to somehow give back.

I started to think of how I could help. Thanksgiving, a holiday in which we celebrate family and friends and are thankful for all our blessings, was just a month away. Thanksgiving has always been a special day for me and my family, it meant uniting family and friends to share a meal and to be grateful. I came up with an idea to raise money to purchase complete Thanksgiving dinner meals in a box to provide meals for families. In order to find the families, I decided to call Kalihi Palma Health Center, a center which provides low income families with health care. I spoke to one of the councilors and told her of the idea I had to help these less fortunate families and others. I asked if she could provide a list of the families that needed help. I wanted these complete dinner meals to be enjoyed in the comfort and surroundings of the recipient families own home. So that they were able to have a private dinner amongst themselves and be thankful for the abundance in their lives instead of the hardships they were going through. Receiving this meal would symbolize Hope.

Hope that tomorrow would be a better day. I wanted to give these families hope because statistics showed around the holidays there was an increase of abuse, depression, and suicide. This was due to lack of income in families who would have liked to provide all the food, gifts and trimmings for their families and friends. The stress and pressure to provide all this was overwhelming, especially for larger families.

I / Miracle Meals Foundation have made no promise to cure any problems for these families. Our purpose is to simply to give Hope to families in need around the holidays and alleviate some of the stress and pressure of having to provide a holiday meal. I wanted to let these families know there is someone out there, someone who they don't even know, that Cares, especially now, in this tough economy.

With the help of Kalihi Palama Health Center, families, friends, volunteers and businesses, who have graciously given their time and energy to inform others of Miracle Meals, as well as becoming sponsors and contributors, Miracle Meals has been able to provide thousands of families with a complete Holiday Dinner Meal at Thanksgiving.

We have been raising money to purchase meals for families since 1995. Our mission is to grow and expand throughout the entire continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii and all Micronesian / Polynesian islands and provide meals for all major holidays throughout the year.

We want to continue to give hope to families every year and hope in years to come you will help us.

Thank you,

Theresa San-Nicolas / President & Founder

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