Message from Argentina

Ever since I was young, I loved mathematics, and after graduating from college, I worked for several years in the insurance industry, first in the United States, and then in Buenos Aires, Argentina. While working in Argentina, I was often pained by the social inequalities, and the sight of families feeding their children out of the garbage, waiting outside of restaurants when they closed. At some point, upon seeing this sight about 5 years ago, I thought of the model of food banking that I had heard about while living in the United States, and decided to try and start a food bank here in Buenos Aires.

I started researching on the internet, and calling people involved with food banking to learn more about it, and one of the first things that someone told me was “you need to call John Van Hengel”. When I talked to him, he was extremely warm, and shared numerous stories about how food banking got started, and what I needed to do to get it going in Argentina. He was often concerned about me, personally. He always wanted to call me so that I wouldn’t spend my money, and he always had encouraging words to keep me going. He taught me an important lesson… persistence and passion are often more important one’s intelligence and skill.

As I worked with John over the years, and got to know him personally, and learned more about his own history, I was time and again struck by his profound compassion for the poor, his personal integrity in taking on even the most menial jobs at the food bank, and his living a life of poverty in order to share the plight of those he was helping. When I think back to how the food bank got started… he started talking with a woman with ten children, who was asking for money outside of a library, and he asked her “how do you feed your children?” John wasn’t content with giving her a quarter or a dollar and walking on. He was genuinely concerned about her. He stopped to talk with her, found out that she had 10 children, and then asked her “how do you feed them?”. And out of this act of love for this woman, who was probably ignored by many druing her life, food banking was born. She said “come and see”, and took him to the dumpster behind a supermarket where there was good food that she used to feed her children. Food banking was born out of compassion and love for those in need, and so it continues today in the 50 states, in Europe, in South America, in Japan, in Brazil, in Africa. John’s example and legacy challenge us to continue his work, and to never pass by any human suffering with indifference.

In my work in Argentina, a food bank was eventually started in Buenos Aires, and when I was going to leave food banking behind, John challenged me to keep working, and offered me a grant in order to dedicate myself full-time to setting up new food banks. Thanks greatly to John’s support, there are now twelve food banks up and running in Argentina, and we have worked together to improve existing operations in Paraguay, South Africa, and to start up operations in Chile. In Argentina, the food banks that are up and running currently distribute almost 9 million pounds of food per year that reaches 120,000 people in need. In the name of these people, I thank you John.

John was down to earth, kind, had a great sense of humor, and in the midst of his physical suffering, always had a smile for you. He was my inspiration both professionally and personally, and I miss him already.

Steve Camilli, Argentina