ON FOX FIRST — Speaking exclusively to Fox News Digital, bestselling author and life strategist Tony Robbins announced Tuesday that he and his partners in the 100 Billion Meals Challenge have made commitments “to provide an impressive 30 billion meals to fight global hunger” in just two years of the program’s existence, he said .
The announcement comes on Giving Tuesday – important because Robbins has pledged to match most donations coming in, both from individuals and groups.
“If someone wants to donate $1 to $2 million on Giving Tuesday, I will match that amount,” Robbins said. “So you get a doubling of the impact if you want to participate.”
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Robbins launched his initiative against hunger with David Beasley, former head of the World Food Program, with the goal of providing 100 billion meals over 10 years – and the program is now well ahead of plans, he said.
Robbins revealed in great detail his personal connection to the issue of hunger in America and around the world. (See the video at the top of this article.)
“I grew up in a pretty tough environment. We had no money,” says Robbins, who now lives in Florida with his wife, Sage, and their children.
Tony Robbins, bestselling author, motivational speaker, and business and life strategist, spoke with Fox News Digital this week about his bold initiative to feed hungry people in America and around the world (100billionmeals.org). (Fox News Digital)
“I had four different fathers, and they’re all good men, but they all lost their jobs at different times. And I had a Thanksgiving when I was 11 years old where there was no money and no food in the house – no food We had saltine crackers and peanut butter. But you know, it was Thanksgiving.”
He said his parents were also fighting at the time – “yelling at each other or blaming each other. And I have a younger brother and a younger sister, five and seven years younger, and I try to make sure they don’t hear it.” ” said Robbins, describing his life as a child.
“We had saltine crackers and peanut butter. But you know, it was Thanksgiving.”
And then he said, “There’s a knock at the door.”
And “to make a long story short, this guy has two giant bags of groceries in his hands, and he had a pan with an uncooked frozen turkey on the floor (next to him). He said, ‘Is your dad here ?’ And I thought, ‘Just a moment.'”
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Robbins said the stranger offered his family a wonderful Thanksgiving meal simply out of the goodness of his heart — and as a boy from a family with very little, he said he felt “so excited,” Robbins said.
“I thought, ‘This is going to be the most magical thing.'”
However, his father responded “not positively” to the offer at the door.
“He looked at this man and said, ‘We don’t accept charity.'”
An awkward conversation took place as his father tried to close the door — and eventually came “a moment I’ll never forget,” Robbins said.
“The man said, ‘Sir, please don’t let your family suffer because of your ego.”
“My dad turned bright red,” Robbins said. “I remember (seeing) the veins on the side of his neck. I thought, ‘He’s going to punch the guy in the face.’ But he just dropped his shoulders. He picked up the food and put it down.”
“I believed that strangers cared about me and my family. And then I wanted to care about strangers.”
Robbins said, “And I was excited. Up until that point, I couldn’t understand what was going on with (my father), but he wasn’t taking care of his family. And he left our family a few days later. It was one of the hardest moments of my life, but it was also the best because there was food.”
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From that experience as a boy, he said, “I developed a different faith. I believed that strangers cared about them – and that strangers cared about them. me and my family. And then I wanted to take care of strangers.”
And so, Robbins said, “he set a goal that when I was older, at 17, I would feed at least two families—and the next year four, and then eight.”
Once he was in business and able to help others on a larger scale, “we got to 50 and 100 – and then 100,000. Ultimately we got two million people through my foundation and two million people through my wife and me. “
Robbins said of his initiative and his motivation to help others, “When you’ve suffered so much, you don’t want anyone else to suffer.” (Fox News digital)
From there, over time, he has dramatically increased his numbers and his connection with partners in the endeavor.
Together with Beasley, formerly of the World Food Programme, ‘we set up this project. And the National Pasta Association, International Pasta, Feed My Starving Children, Manna Nutrition, Dubai Government – they’re all in on it. And Global Citizen is participating. It gives us a platform to reach more people. So it’s not just me. But what we can do together is amazing.”
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He said that no child anywhere in the world should die of hunger.
And the same goes “here in America,” Robbins pointed out. “I’ll provide another billion meals in America. We are the richest country in the world, and yet we still have roughly 40 million people, a lot of them. children and the elderly, who are still food insecure. It’s crazy. We have to do our part.”
Global hunger has risen sharply in recent years – according to Robbins and his team, acute hunger has risen to 730 million people after the pandemic.
In addition, some 30 million people are “on the brink of famine.”
“I think I suffered so much so that others wouldn’t.”
Robbins told Fox News Digital: “I think if I hadn’t grown up hungry, if I hadn’t suffered, I wouldn’t be working so hard. But when you’ve suffered so much, you don’t want to anymore.” And when I go to different parts of the world, including this country where people are food insecure, I see that they don’t have food.”
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Robbins noted, “I always say there are two types of motivation in life. There’s push motivation, when you’re trying to get yourself to do something. And then there’s pull motivation – where it’s a calling, where you are interested in, by God’s grace or the grace of the universe, whatever you believe in, you are meant to do this. And I think I suffered so that others wouldn’t.”
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He said this is why “it’s not hard to keep your passion going, especially when you see the joy in people’s eyes when that food is brought to them. Because it’s more than just food. For me, it’s about people care. People are no longer alone. And I think we can all play that role.”
Robbins told Fox News Digital: “Together we can do just about anything.” (Carlo Allegri for The Washington Post via Getty Images))
Robbins noted the health benefits of giving to others.
‘There are all kinds of studies to prove this that (helping others) creates a biochemical change in you. Something as simple as standing in line at Starbucks and paying for the next five people’s coffee – this will create a bigger chemical change in your body that lasts longer than normally getting something for yourself. It’s pretty wild.”
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He said, “As humans, we survive through our connection to community. We can never make it alone, but together we can do just about anything.”
