Over 3,200 volunteers came out to last weekend’s Feed the Need! Illinois MobilePack event at North Central College.
800,928 meals were made for children around the world
Volunteer groups and individuals of all ages came together to help pack Feed My Starving Children MannaPack Meals. The meals contain a specially formulated blend of dehydrated vegetables, vitamins, soy protein, and rice.
“So what comes out of these bags is a rice meal, It’s scientifically formulated to feed malnourished and starving children around the world,” said Feed the Need! Mobliepack Chair, Matt Hebel.
Over the two-day event, 800,928 meals were made, enough to feed 2,194 children a nutritious meal a day for an entire year.
Feed the Need’s assembly process and how it works
The process of creating the packs has been perfected, as this year marks the 12th annual Feed the Need! event.
“So by way of the flow it is an assembly line process with vitamins, veggies, soy, rice,” said Hebel. “Scoops go into the funnels, funnels go into the bags, bags get weighed, bags then get sealed and then the sealed bags make it into the boxes and the boxes make it over here to get weighed. And then, they make it into pallets, pallets make it out this door out here onto the trucks and then to their international destinations.”
Volunteer numbers are climbing back up
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteer numbers around the country have been lower than usual. But with restrictions being eased, people are coming back out.
“Two things that make this thing work. Our volunteers and resources to pay for the food,” said Feed the Need! 12-year veteran, Dick Riederer. “You know, (if) we have those two things, we can feed a million kids in a weekend. Before COVID-19, we did 1.2 million meals in 36 hours.”
Although not over 1 million meals, this year’s event saw the highest number of attendance since before the pandemic.
What Feed the Need! Means to its volunteers
Former Pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Gary Olson, says he loves to see the people of the community come together for this event. And he had a special reason to donate this year.
“I decided to celebrate my birthday by giving a personal donation to Feed My Starving Children large enough to feed 70 children for an entire year,” said Feed the Need! leadership team member, Pastor Olson. “And then I asked some of my friends if they would contribute as well, and maybe we can match or double that gift.”
Pastor Gary and his friends helped raise over $18,000 for this year’s Feed the Need!
North Central College graduate, Nora Beswick, like Pastor Gary, has participated in every Feed the Need! event since 2012.
“I think for me it’s seen different kinds of volunteer come out and volunteer side by side,” said Beswick. “So you’ll have, you know, the college football or basketball teams come out and they’re packaged next to a group of Girl Scouts that have heard about it that want to come back meals for kids. So it’s just seeing the different people in the community that all realize that they can make a difference.”
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