Feed The Children, Inc. - Forming a Trucking Subsidiary in 1986

Forming a Trucking Subsidiary in 1986

The year 1986 saw the founding of a for-profit trucking subsidiary, Feed The Children Transportation, Inc. During the year the country music group The Oak Ridge Boys approached Jones and offered to donate the proceeds from a concert they were giving in Nice, France. Having just returned from a visit to Africa, Jones told them he would use the money to help drill four wells in the drought-ridden area he had visited, and offered to name one well after each member of the group. Many other celebrities also would pitch in to help the organization over the years, including country singer John Conlee, famous for a hit song called "Busted." When concert-goers one night began putting small amounts of money on the edge of the stage in joking response to the song's lyric about being broke, leaving a total of $58, Conlee got the idea of offering it to FTC to help feed poor Americans in Appalachia. Although Jones was initially nonplussed by Conlee's phoned-in offer of help, when the singer next called he reported that the donations had reached $10,000, and later, after appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and on a television show with Jones, he presented FTC with a check for $150,000. A few years later country superstar Garth Brooks would give FTC $1 from the sale of each copy of his Christmas album, in conjunction with collections at concerts and record stores. Other performers who became involved with the organization over the years included actress Melanie Griffith, actor John Ritter, comedian Sinbad, and politicians from both halves of the political spectrum including Ronald Reagan and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Although donations fell off by as much as one-quarter in the wake of the non-FTC related 1987 scandal involving televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, the organization took in $41 million during that year, and its outreach continued to grow with activities including helping Mother Teresa distribute aid to Armenia following an earthquake there in 1988. By that year, the organization had shipped food and other goods to 34 countries and 44 U.S. states. Jones was now producing a weekly television program that appeared on more than 100 stations in the United States, and 15 FTC trucks were typically on the road at a given time, picking up and delivering donations like grain from Kansas or pasta from Puerto Rico.

By 1991 the organization was taking in $86.3 million worth of donated goods and $25.7 million in cash, and was operating throughout the United States and in dozens of countries abroad, with three-fourths of its assistance distributed at home. FTC reported that it devoted 79.1 percent of its donations to direct relief, 12.1 percent to ministry and education, and the remainder to administrative and fund-raising expenses. It now had 110 employees. During 1991 FTC had distributed goods to victims of an Iranian earthquake and U.S. troops in Operation Desert Storm. Americans hit by Hurricane Andrew were helped the following year when FTC sent 58 truckloads of supplies to Florida.