Occasionally I go up to the cities to help feed children…by helping make food packets.
Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a Christian organization that has been packing meals for hungry children all over the world, for many years…since 1987.
There is a small group from my church that helps at the Eagan facility about once a month, and I join them when it works. When you arrive, you gather with fellow volunteers from all over the area to listen to instructions. Next, after washing your hands, you don a hairnet and gloves and enter the packing facility. It is set up with different stations in an assembly line format, and you go to your assigned station.
One station can accommodate up to seven people. It’s a well-run operation. Once people are in place, they turn on the music and we sometimes dance and sway to the music, as we work.
There are four ingredients to the meal; vitamin powder, dried vegetables, soy, and rice. Two people scoop up the ingredients into a funnel that dumps into the plastic bag. The bag is weighed and then sealed and put into a box. In one hour, five of us working together at one station, can fill 9-10 boxes, of 36 packets each.
It’s a wonderful, hands-on way of making a difference for children. The meals we packed at our last session were going to Nicaragua.
It is a great volunteer activity for all ages…starting at age 5. And, if you can’t stand for a long period of time, you can sit and apply labels to the plastic bags before they are filled.
If interested to learn more or volunteer, check it out here: FMSC.