13th Annual "Race to Feed Kids" 5K in Des Moines
by Benjamin Shane Evans | May 5, 2026
While volunteering in Malawi, a young boy came up to Ellen Miller, while visiting his orphanage.
“He looked up at me and asked, ‘Why do you help us?’,” Miller said. “He did not understand why a complete stranger would do that.”
For Miller, the Iowa Coordinator for Mary’s Meals, the answer is as simple as the connection between a mother and her child.
“We can help feed another mother’s vulnerable child,” Miller said. “We believe that no one should ever go hungry, and we believe in the hope that education brings.”
To support this mission, Miller organized the 13th Annual Race to Feed Kids, which is a 5K race that starts at the Women’s Achievement Bridge in Des Moines on Saturday, May 9, at 9 a.m., with registration opening at 8 a.m. The proceeds from this race will support Mary’s Meals, a school-feeding program that provides daily meals to 3 million children in 16 countries.
The registration fee is $45, or any free will donation, on the day of the event. Miller said that it takes $25 to feed one child for an entire school year. According to data provided by Mary’s Meals, last year’s 245 participants raised enough to feed 317 children at Mcheza School in Malawi for a full school year.
“What I’ve seen personally, it’s not just us helping them, or them struggling on their own,” Miller said. “We pass the mission onto the country that is receiving the meals. When possible, Mary's Meals buys the food locally from the farmers, which feeds the children. Also, we always rely on local volunteer cooks to prepare and serve the food."
Leticia Saidi, known as Lettie, is a member of Mary’s Meals in Malawi whose life has “been transformed by Mary’s Meals,” said in a quote provided by the organization that the non-profit’s work greatly impacts the communities it serves.
“My parents died when I was very young, and hunger was a constant companion,” Saidi said. “Some days we went without food; some nights we lay awake not knowing where we would sleep and what we would eat the next day. As a child, I was also a parent, taking care of my young siblings. I was on the verge of losing hope – but then I met Mary’s Meals.”
Saidi said that organization was more than just a school feeding program, “it was a lifeline.”
“The daily meal was our everyday survival – the reason we could make it through each day,” Saidi said. “And now, as part of my job I get to tell the stories of children who eat Mary’s Meals porridge in Malawi, and my son, Phillip, is also receiving Mary’s Meals at school. I am a testament to what love and kindness can do.”
The 5K walk event can be joined in-person or virtually. Participants can register here, or can register in-person before the event begins at the Women’s Achievement Bridge, 700 Robert D. Ray Drive, Des Moines, on Saturday, May 9.
“It is our way of symbolically in joining with them in their struggle and their hope for a better tomorrow,” Miller said.
*All photos courtesy of Mary's Meals.