Area search under way for 'Kids Against Hunger' volunteers

(Photo by Kris Todd) Julie Lewis holds a Kids Against Hunger package containing six servings of a rice and soy mixture fortified with 21 essential vitamins and minerals, six dehydrated vegetables and chicken flavoring. Area residents are being encouraged to join First Congregational Church members who have signed on to package these dehydrated meals, which will be sent to Haiti, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 7 in their church's Fellowship Hall.

Area volunteers are being sought to take part in a March 7 event that'll not only be fun, but is guaranteed to fill the heart. The service project anticipated to be filled with fellowship will have interested individuals and groups signing up to package meals for Kids Against Hunger.

The meals to be produced locally, which will cost around 13 cents a piece, will be packaged six to a bag. The hopefully bulky end product is slated to be sent to feed impoverished, hungry children in Haiti.

While many feeding organizations supply food to the hungry through commercial or processed food, this Minnesota-headquartered non-profit organization's volunteer-prepared meals have proven to strengthen the immune system.

Julie Lewis initiated the local upcoming project. The Spencer woman began researching the Kids Against Hunger group after hearing positive reports from an Edina, Minn.-based friend whose church congregation, in collaboration with various groups from the Twin Cities area, have packaged over 1 million Kids Against Hunger meals over the last several years during a week's time.

After collecting more positives about the non-profit group's efforts, Lewis approached Revs. Tom and Wendy Van Tassell about the possibility of doing such an endeavor locally.

When fellow First Congregational Church missions committee members -- including Steve Sundblad, Barb Wilkerson, Katie Hesse, Jim Montgomery, Dennis Phillips and recent-former committee members Dr. Rick Wilkerson and Doug Hart -- heard about the proposed mission project, they presented it to the local church's congregation members.

"Our mission group focuses on things close to home, right here in Spencer and statewide. So, as a mission group, we feel like we're covering all those faces with this," Lewis said. "We also feel that it's good to think of the world and to think of everything globally.

"This organization does ship meals in the United States also. During Hurricane Katrina, these food packages went to the Gulf. But in the United States, it usually isn't this desperate. We do have food stamps and we do have Red Cross. There's usually a food pantry or something. These kids, they don't have any of those resources at all. So, this is a way to help people that just have nowhere to go at all."

"We're all pretty excited about this," she continued. "I can see this growing into something like my friend's church does, where everybody in the county comes in for a weekend once a year, maybe during Lent, package away and help some kids that just don't have a thing. That's one reason we picked this weekend: (We were) trying to work around school activities and everything else, and it also is during Lent."

What to expect on Saturday, March 7

A Kids Against Hunger mobile satellite unit led by Al Vonnahme, president of the Le Mars chapter of Kids Against Hunger, will travel to the Spencer church, located at 1212 First Ave. W., the first weekend of next month. The semi truck's precious cargo, which will include all the ingredients and equipment needed to package the ensuing meals, will then find its way onto long church tables, where volunteers will pour ingredients into funnels. As the prospective packages are weighed, sealed and put into boxes and then onto pallets, they'll be loaded back onto the truck.

Potential volunteers are being asked the fund the meals they'll bag and make over a suggested time period. Lewis compared this to the annual Relay For Life event participants are asked to seek donations for.

"All of the money raised will go for the ingredients to make these meals," she explained. " ... As a rule of thumb, we were told by Kids Against Hunger that $15 per hour per person is about how many meals they're going to bag in an hour. So, for a two-hour shift, it's about $30 per person. If a group would want to come in -- a group of coworkers, a youth group or whatever -- the area churches are kind of funding their own kids as they sign up."

"The cool thing about this organization," Lewis continued, "is once these pallets go back to Sioux City on a semi truck, once they're there, the U.S. government actually takes over. They have permission to ship free anywhere in the world where a U.S. cargo ship or plane is going. So, the shipping isn't an issue as far as cost. That's why all the money goes toward the food.

"The meals that we package on Saturday, March 7 are all going to Haiti. Because right now, that is where the need is greatest. Because of all the hurricanes that went through last year, several of those hurricanes hit Haiti pretty hard. And so, the kids that were starving a year ago are actually dying now because of the extra devastation caused by the hurricanes."

If you or a group you're involved with are interested in helping out during the local Hunger Against Kids event, schedule a time by contacting your local church office, the First Congregational Church office at 262-4392 or Lewis at 262-5530.

Kids Against Hunger

This non-profit organization, founded by Minnesota businessman Richard Proudfit more than 30 years ago, has a mission of providing nutritious food to impoverished children around the world. Feeding programs, orphanages, schools and clinics are the direct paths it uses to feed children.

Based in New Hope, Minn., Kids Against Hunger uses volunteers from schools, families, churches and synagogues, senior centers and corporations in more than 40 satellites throughout the United States to pack food and prepare it for shipment.

Private and corporate donations have supported the transportation efforts. The U.S. government has also provided some free transportation through the Navy, Air Force and the U.S. Agency for International Development. This teamwork is an important part of the organization's success in delivering over 40 million meals -- or over 5.6 million pounds of food -- a year.