Fruitport students bag food for Kids Against Hunger
By Cindy Fairfield
January 17, 2009, 10:02AM
It's a lot of work feeding thousands, but Fruitport students made it look easy.
KIDS AGAINST HUNGER
An estimated 40,000 children die each day from malnutrition, starvation and hunger-related diseases. For more information about Kids Against Hunger, visit www.kidsagainsthungercoalition.org.
Thursday afternoon, they donned hair nets, gloves and aprons before being granted entry inside the high school cafeteria. Their goal: package 10,000 bagged meals within two hours.
The project was part of Kids Against Hunger. The nonprofit organization aims to reduce the number of hungry people in America and the world through packaging and delivering food to more than 40 countries.
And the mission was accomplished, thanks to a highly organized work bee. In assembly-line fashion, each had an assigned task: pour exactly-measured ingredients of soy meal, rice, dehydrated vegetables, powdered chicken broth; seal baggies, and load and stack boxes.
"We had to wear that stuff so hair and germs didn't get into the food," said Brenna Boyer, 9, who attends Edgewood Elementary. Her job was to hold the plastic baggie while it was filled, then get them ready to load in boxes. "I liked it. I felt nice and helpful."
Her teacher, Joy Johnson, said the activity also was a hands-on math lesson. The children had to be precise in measuring ounces of food.
When prepared with hot water, each bag feeds six adults or 12 children.
Michael Burwell, executive director for the Great Lakes Coalition of Kids Against Hunger, said many churches and civic groups throughout Michigan provide manpower to help with packaging meals.
The meals are divided three ways, with a portion sent abroad, some warehoused for disaster relief, and the remainder given to local food pantries of the school's choice.
The organization hopes to get more schools on board, he said.
"We want to teach our kids to give back. We've gotten so far away from what actually matters, and packaging food for their neighbors in other countries makes them feel special."
Chronicle/Darren BreenEdgewood Elementary fourth-graders Sawyer Closs, Andy Harloff, Makayla Nadeau and Ben Taylor, left to right, put on their protective gloves.
It was a big deal for fourth-graders to spend the afternoon with ninth-graders. Junior Nicole Haase said at first the younger students were shy, but once they got the hang of their jobs, they worked well with the older students.
"It was cool to see the little kids. I think this shows kids what we, like, take for granted, and that one of these little bags is a satisfactory meal to someone else," said Haase, 16.
School officials said the afternoon's activity was a good community service project, which cost the school district $2,800. It was paid for by private donations and a service learning grant.
Superintendent Nick Ceglarek, donning a hair net and gloves as he dug into help, said he would like to see the activity on a larger scale, with Fruitport working together with students from other districts.
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Kids Against Hunger Great Lakes Coalition has packaged 5,132,592 meals since the fall of 2004. 1,846,152 of these were packaged in 2009. This year, 2010, KAHC volunteers have packaged 856,872 meals. Since 2004 over 43,028 volunteers have participated in KAHC packaging. KAHC has shipped over 1,000,000 meals to Haiti, through The United States Navy, Coast Guard, and other humanitarian groups. KAHC has shipped over 14,692 meals to the Dominican Republic, over 648,000 meals to Guatemala, and 108,000 to Baton Rouge, Louisiana as part of Hurricane Katrina relief effort. KAHC has sent 50,000 meals to Ghana, and 405,120 to Kenya Africa. KAHC has also shipped 200,000 meals to the following countries: Panama, Nicaragua, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Tobago, and French Guiana. We have shipped over 70,000 meals to Manila in the Philippine Islands. Finally KAHC has shipped over 1,655,528 meals to local community shelters & food depots in Michigan Indiana and Ohio through distribution channels like Our Lady of Fatima delivery systems.