For the second year in a row, I participated in a Feed the Hunger Packathon. Our church has hosted this event three times. Last year, it drew around a hundred people. This year, we had 106 and packed 20,000 meals in less than two hours.
What is this Packathon? Feed the Hunger is a Christian organization that employs the distribution of meals to help those in need while spreading the Gospel of Christ. It’s the living, breathing example of: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. … I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:35, 40 (NIV)
During the event, stations are set up and assembly lines created. Each person, no matter the age, is given a task to perform, from putting required food labels on small plastic bags to placing boxes filled with the prepared meals onto pallets to be shipped to where they’re needed. Whole families participate.
Precisely measured amounts of dried vegetables, dried pinto beans, a protein powder, and rice are added to every bag with one person enlisted per ingredient. The bags are weighed to be sure they contain enough and not too much, then they’re sealed and packed in a box. During the process, at least eight people at a station will have their influence on one bag comprised of six servings. Once forty bags are filled and sealed, they go into a cardboard box to be placed on a pallet and eventually shipped where they’re needed.
This year, my job was to seal the bags. That might sound like a no-brainer task, but it takes two people and, when things get hopping, it gets interesting trying to keep up. I’m so thankful I didn’t burn my partner’s fingers.
All of this is done in an atmosphere of music, fun, and a pace that rivals the I Love Lucy candy factory skit. Each full box warrants a “Hoorah” from the table, but there’s little time to celebrate, because the bags continue to be filled until every box has its forty.
People around the world receive this needed food, including poor and/or war-torn countries with desperate refuges. This past year, our North Carolina hurricanes devastated the coast, particularly the Wilmington area, so it was nice to know that meals (maybe some I packed last year) went to those in need in our own country.
If you have a chance to do one of these Packathons from Feed the Hungry, don’t miss out. Below is a video from the organization that gives you an idea of what these events are like and how they help.
As an author of heartwarming and award-winning historical romance, Sandra Ardoin engages readers with page-turning stories of love and faith. Rarely out of reach of a book, she’s also an armchair sports enthusiast, country music listener, and seldom says no to eating out.
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She didn’t know which was colder, an Arctic winter or her new husband’s heart.
Hallie Russell believes life should be lived to the fullest. For that reason, she sails to the gold rush town of Nome, Alaska to take her cousin’s place as the mail-order bride of a respected shopkeeper. But when her aloof husband’s wedding-night announcement rocks her plans for their marriage, Hallie sees her desire for a family to call her own vanish as quickly as the dreams of hopeful miners.
Tragedy led Rance Preston to repent of his rowdy ways and open a general store for the miners in Nome. He’s content in his bachelorhood, but his two orphaned nephews deserve a proper and serious-minded mother. Duped once by a vivacious female, he’s determined to never again let his heart overrule his head…until the high spirits of his new bride threaten his resolve.
When a misunderstanding comes to light, will they allow the gale force winds of insecurity to destroy what they each need most?
Thanks so much for letting me share, Jennifer!
So glad you shared this story 🙂
It is very similar to Feed My Starving Children, also a Christian base org., where our church had the opportunity to volunteer (#WeAreFor) in packaging and labeling foods with music and chattering in the atmosphere. It ends with a prayer that the food will be a blessing to the children!
It was a fun opportunity that we plan to return.
I hadn’t heard of that one, Carrie, but yes, it does sound the same, right down to the prayer of blessing. Glad you had fun!