Convoy of Hope feeds 639,000 children per day. It started with $300 worth of groceries in a pickup truck.
Shaped by Loss and Compassion
Hal Donaldson grew up in poverty after his father was killed by a drunk driver in 1969, when Hal was 12. The kindness of strangers who helped his family taught him the power of compassion. Then, in 1990, while ghostwriting a book in Calcutta, Hal had a personal encounter with Mother Teresa that shifted his priorities from career to service.
A Pickup Truck to a Movement
After returning home, Donaldson loaded $300 worth of groceries into a pickup truck and drove around Northern California handing them out. Along with his brothers Steve and Dave, he formalized the effort in 1994 as Convoy of Hope. The pickup became a box truck, then a semi-truck, then warehouses across the country.
Global Scale
Today, Convoy of Hope serves more than 130 countries. It has distributed $3.1 billion in food, water, and supplies and served more than 300 million people total. Ranked the 27th-largest charity in the U.S. by Forbes, the organization opened a new 125,000-square-foot regional distribution center in 2025. Donaldson's goal: feed one million children per day by 2030.
Learn more on our Convoy of Hope page.
