Hi, my name is Filipe Cioni. I am a Brazilian living in the United States, and I work in higher education helping students make it to college. But before any title, I am someone who knows what it feels like to not know where I will sleep or what I will eat.

In 2019, I went through a season of my life where I had no fixed place to sleep and very little to eat. For a time, I survived on almost nothing. What kept me going were simple acts of kindness, especially the people who made sure I had food. Those meals did more than feed me. They gave me the strength to think, survive, and eventually rebuild my life. Because of that help, I was able to go from sleeping on the streets to graduating from college, stepping into leadership, and building a new life. I have never forgotten what those meals meant to me.

That is why this fundraiser is so personal.

I am raising funds for a project in São Paulo, Brazil, led by my father, Leonardo Cioni, through the Thomas Edison Pathfinder Club at Vila Prudente Seventh-day Adventist Church. Their mission is to feed people living on the streets of São Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world. The latest official census counted 31,884 people experiencing homelessness in São Paulo, and 19,209 of them were living directly in public spaces.

This is part of a much bigger crisis. Brazil’s homeless population grew by 38% between 2019 and 2022, reaching 281,472 people, according to data cited by Brazil’s federal government from IPEA. At the same time, Brazil has also faced a wider hunger crisis. Government reporting cites research showing that in early 2022, 33 million people in Brazil were living in severe food insecurity.

This campaign is especially urgent because winter in Brazil begins in June, and colder months make street life even more dangerous for people who already have so little protection. In 2024, reports in São Paulo documented deaths of unhoused people during cold weather.

Every $6 helps provide more than a meal. It helps provide pasta, sauce, shredded meat, juice, a bottle of water, and a book to nourish not only the body, but also the soul. Our goal is to help feed 250 people.

What makes this even more meaningful to me is the power of the dollar. In Brazil, where the local reality is much harder economically, a small amount here can become something deeply impactful there. What may feel like a simple donation in the United States can become food, dignity, and hope for someone in São Paulo.

We know one campaign will not solve homelessness. But I also know from personal experience that one meal can change a day, and sometimes a day is what helps someone keep going long enough to change their life.

That happened to me.

Now I want to do that for someone else.

If you can donate, thank you. If you can share, thank you. And if you choose to be part of this, you are helping us remind someone in one of the hardest moments of their life that they have not been forgotten.