“It’s a relief to see it loaded but it’s not about today or us, it’s about the kids and the families that’ll get this food,” said Craig Severtson this past week as he and about a dozen others worked to fill a shipping container bound for Sudan with emergency food packets.
The food would typically be bound for Nicaragua through the Flandreau-based nonprofit. This time, it’s headed for a refugee camp along the border of Sudan and Chad where millions are displaced due to a rival conflict between warring factions of the military government. Families are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. It is estimated that over half of the refugees are children.
“We were asked to, since our food was not traveling to Central America, other organizations knew that we ship food and they asked if we would ship to Sudan and we said yes,” said Severtson. “Getting it on the road, this is big. It’s not doing it any good just sitting here.”

Helping Kids Round First, for those unfamiliar with the local organization, has been in existence for the past 14 years. Local and regional baseball teams at its inception helped Severtson, who had traveled extensively throughout Nicaragua and the world, gather used baseball equipment to put into the hands of children and families in Nicaragua that may not ever see a ball, glove or bat.
The goal was to help kids be kids in a nation where baseball is the national sport — but quickly realizing that when there are bigger problems, like hunger, facing their families, baseball might not be enough when one is truly looking to make a difference.
Understanding this, Severtson and HKRF’s mission has grown over time to include school supplies, medical equipment and agricultural resources for the impoverished nation, especially in the most rural areas. Baseball however, remains the vehicle for those connections and for creating long-term, sustainable improvements in the region.
“The most impact that we have is by bringing education to the people in the farming communities so they can grow their own food. That’s our sustainable project,” said Executive Director Nadia Nabhan, who leads HKRF in its mission in her home country of Nicaragua. Nabhan was in Flandreau again this past week with Severtson to help pack and see the shipping container bound for Sudan off on the first leg of its journey.
“Another impact in education too is the scholarships that we provide. What we are trying to do with all of these projects is to break the cycle of poverty in the country — step by step, little by little. But we’re going to get there.”
The emergency food packets just loaded onto the shipping container in Flandreau were provided by Kids Against Hunger and Then Feed Just One. They were all packed by individuals, families, groups and organizations from