Volunteers package 163,296 meals at SEAS
About 1,100 volunteers packaged 163,296 meals Wednesday through Saturday, Sept. 18-21, at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Wichita – enough to feed 447 malnourished and starving children for a year.
The huge containers of rice, soy protein, dried vegetables, and powdered vitamins were measured, packaged, and boxed in Bishop Gilmore Hall by volunteers.
It’s the third year Pam and Steve Gardner, members of the parish, have organized the Feed My Starving Children packaging event. They began volunteering for the non-profit Christian organization while living in Florida and decided to bring the idea to Wichita.
Go for it!
“It was just a business plan. We met with the priest and talked about it,” Pam said. “He said, ‘Just go for it!’ That’s how it happened.”
She said MobilePack 2024 at SEAS parish was a way to give back to the world.
“Our team has been fantastic in helping us – we have 12 on our team. We pull them in at different times. They all have their area of expertise and they pretty much run independently,” she said.
Looking ahead to 2025
The Gardners are looking for help for MobilePack 2025. Pam said she’s done most of the fundraising for the three events and is looking for help in that area of the ministry.
“We’re looking at how we might do this differently – have a fundraiser to take care of funds, or find a sponsor,” she said. “We’ll be working on getting that for next year. Steve and I are all in for managing it…but we want to make sure those kids get fed another year.”
Ed Johnson, the organization’s Regional Development advisor, said Feed My Starving Children’s goal this year is to ship 400 million meals. The food is designed to nourish starving children with a special vitamin formula, dehydrated vegetables, a plant-based protein, and rice, a grain nearly everyone knows how to cook.
The packaging event at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish was one of 250 “mobile” events the organization hosted so far this year. Feed My Starving Children also has brick-and-mortar facilities in four states where volunteers can pack up to six days a week.
The meals packaged last year at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton were shipped to the Dominican Republic. The food is donated to the requesting organization which is responsible for shipping it to the country in need. Meals were sent to about 60 countries last year, Johnson said, with most going to South America and Africa.
Many students volunteered
Volunteers this year included fourth through eighth graders of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School, middle school students from St. Mary School in Derby, Newman University students, employees of the Chancery, and persons with special needs.