Keep Walking: One Man’s Journey to Feed the World One Child at a Time

Keep walking,” Jones, founder of Feed the Children, tells himself when he’s in an impossible situation—whether trying to find the money to drill wells for drinking water in Kenya or getting across Sarajevo alive. Jones grew up intending to be a minister, but after he was ordained and had his own church, he decided it was more important to go out and feed the needy, not just preach to people about being saved. He started by shipping surplus American wheat to Haiti, which led to developing a child-sponsorship program. For the last 28 years, Jones, his family and his staff have organized enormous relief efforts for some of the world’s worst crises—Ethiopian famines, the Bosnian war, the Murrah building bombing, 9/11 and Katrina. Although Jones structures this as a memoir, starting with his idyllic boyhood in Bowling Green, Ky., and his first experiences preaching, his real focus is on the development of his organization, Feed The Children. Even without its prominent endorsement from Rick Warren (The Purpose-Driven Life), this inspirational story should reach a wide audience. (Dec.)