When UTM marketing professor Michael Hyung-Jin Park read, “’ Give us this day our daily bread,’” he took it to heart.

Religious convictions led Park to found No Starving to Death (NSD), a local organization devoted to ending starvation worldwide. NSD, which held its first meeting Sept. 9, seeks to help those who face starvation, not those suffering from non-life- threatening hunger.

“I especially target people who are starving to death. My interest is in people who are dying because of [a lack of] food,” says Park, adding that while some in the United States suffer from hunger, few are in danger of starvation.

Matthew 6:9-13, the frequently-quoted passage better known to Christians as the “Lord’s Prayer,” was especially influential in Park’s decision to found NSD. Park thinks Matthew 6:11, which reads, “’ Give us this day our daily bread,’” is particularly significant.

“I think there is something very important in that sentence. That means Jesus wants us to share today’s bread with others. That’s why he said ‘give us,’ not ‘give me,’” says Park, who declined to identify his religious affiliation.

NSD plans to reach starving communities via e-adoption, a process invented and named by Park, who also serves as NSD’s president. Using e-adoption, a community such as UTM or the city of Martin, would adopt a starving area in Africa via the Internet. The adoptive community would then send e-mails, supplies and monetary donations to its starving counterpart.

“I want to be a match maker between our community and the communities that are starving to death,” Park says. “To take care of one area doesn’t cost a lot.”

Park hopes the e-adoption process spreads to other universities and cities that seek to help starving people. If every county in the United States adopted one area in need, starvation could be eliminated worldwide, said Park.

“I hope our university is the starting point for e-adoption,” Park says. Park vows that despite the group’s small membership (four members attended the Sept. 9 meeting), NSD will continue its work to stamp out starvation until no one is faced with dying because of a lack of food.

“It is God’s work, not mine,” he says. “It is not my idea; God just gives [me] the idea.”