A nine-year-old Orlando girl recently gave up her birthday party to feed hungry children and families in need.

Laila Schuck celebrated her ninth birthday on June 2.

However, instead of having a birthday party, she decided to invite her friends and family to volunteer on June 12, to do her part to create a hunger-free world.

"I wanted to feed the children. I've been there once with my church and it was really fun for me. I loved it," Laila Schuck explained.

Laila was one of the two dozen outstanding volunteers that were honored by Feeding Children Everywhere, at the organization's inaugural Hunger Hero Awards in Orlando Friday night.

"It's about more than food, it's about addressing the root causes of hunger," said Dave Green, the CEO of Feeding Children Everywhere.

"It's food plus education or it's food plus women's health, food plus orphan care or economic development. We see food as a vehicle that starts a broader conversation," Green continued.

"And once the basic needs are taken care of, the academic success comes," said Cheryl Johnson, another Hunger Hero, who is retiring from Lockhart Middle School in Orange County after 36 years in education.

Over the past six and half years, nearly 500,000 volunteers have helped FCE package and distribute nearly 74 million meals.

For Laila, she's already planning to give up her 10th birthday party in June 2018, to help feed hungry children and families in the U.S. and around the world.

"I would like to come back and do something like this because I love serving. But this has really been the best birthday," Schuck said.

Green said Feeding Children Everywhere, an international non-profit based in Seminole County, will package and distribute 20 million meals around the world in 2017.

About 15 million of those meals will be given to hungry children and families in the United States.