Marisa Enos - Intern Monday, June 15, 2009
Local coordinator Jim Bloom is hoping the community will help feed 20,000 hungry people by packaging meals for Kids Against Hunger on July 31. “Sandy and I were asked by Hjordis Rivet (of Emanuel Lutheran Church) to come and tell the Sunday School class about what we do as Disciples of Christ,” Bloom said. “We told the class about working on Katrina, Habitat, Dinners to Homebound, driving people to the doctor. Then on Tuesday I heard about Kids Against Hunger during a teleconference and said wow, this is what they were telling the Sunday School class and that it would be a great community project. Kids Against Hunger is a nondenominational event. It’s about the community working together to feed the hungry. God said, ‘Feed my children!’ He didn’t say Ludington only. It was all children.”
In order for this program to come to Ludington, it takes $5,600 to pay for the food, packaging, and the shipping of the products to the children. If the money is raised by June 30, Ludington will receive the components needed to make 20,000 meals for hungry children. Out of those meals planned to be packaged on July 31, 50 percent will go to Third World countries, 30 percent of the meals will go to a food pantry of the community’s choosing, and 20 percent of it will go into storage by Kids Against Hunger for emergency relief in the event of a natural disaster. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is providing $1,800, leaving just $3,700 to be raised locally, Bloom said. The deadline is June 26. It’s a community-wide event, Bloom said.
The packaging will take place at Emanuel Lutheran Church, 501 E. Danaher St., where Bloom is a member. He is also a representative of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, which is providing some of the funding, but many people and organizations are getting involved. St. John’s Lutheran Church is handling the finances, with many area churches doing collections. All individuals and/or organizations are encouraged to participate. The Community Foundation for Mason County Youth Advisory Council helped Kids Against Hunger in March with a meal packaging day at the Mason-Lake Intermediate School District, putting together 15,000 meals for people in the community and around the world.
New Era just recently hosted a Kids Against Hunger program as well. “New Era had a total of four lines,” Bloom said. “The lines were full on both sides but I do not remember how many to a side. My guess would be about ten to a table total. We had a total of 71 volunteers. It took less than four hours to do over 21,000 meals with cleanup and everything. I got there with a crew about two hours before and we cooked supper and set up. It was a great time and my guess is that the people that were there last time are looking forward to coming again.”
Since the program’s launch in 1999 by Richard Proudfit, Kids Against Hunger has shipped 100 million meals across 40 different countries to 200,000 people. The food packets cost 28 cents per serving and each packet contains six meals. The meal took nearly three years to develop and consists of high-quality rice; fortified, crushed soy; a dehydrated vegetable blend; and chicken-flavored vitamin and mineral powder. This meal is nutritious and provides a good source of vitamins that malnourished children need.
How to help
To make a donation, mail or drop off the donation to St. John’s Lutheran Church on 209 N. Rowe St. Make checks payable to St. John’s Lutheran Church and note in the memo that it’s for Kids Against Hunger. Gifts of $100 are suggested, “However, gifts of $50 or less will also be just as warmly received.” For more information or to sign up to help on July 31, contact Jim and Sandy Bloom, 843-2121 or Ruth Anderson, 843-4708. People of all ages are welcome.
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Kids Against Hunger Coalition has packaged 5,546,232 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 45,852 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 2,417,040 meals to local community shelters & food depots in Michigan Indiana and Ohio through distribution channels like Our Lady of Fatima delivery systems.