More than 100 volunteers gathered at Crozet United Methodist Church April 19 to participate for the sixth year in Operation Sharehouse.
Crozet UMC raised over $7,000 during Lent to fund the three-hour event, which produced 25,272 nutrient-rich meals to support school feeding programs, orphanages and crisis relief around the world. The event at Crozet UMC was sponsored by Stop Hunger Now, based in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The assembly process combines rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a flavoring mix with 23 vitamins and minerals into small meal pouches. The volunteers, ranging in age from 4 to 82, worked in teams that filled plastic bins with the raw ingredients, scooped ingredients into individual meal bags, weighed and sealed the bags, boxed and stacked them on pallets, and loaded the pallets and equipment onto a truck. The trucks take the boxed meals to a central distribution warehouse in North Carolina for storage and distribution. Each meal pouch has a shelf life of two years, and when mixed with boiling water, produces a nutritious meal for up to six people.
Everyone at Crozet UMC had a job in the packaging event, and some of the hardest working people were the children who served as “runners,” delivering the meal pouches between stations in the various stages of production. To keep morale at a high level, John Hilker struck a “gong” throughout the afternoon for every 1,000 meals completed.
Stop Hunger Now was founded in 1998, and since then it has provided over 180 million meals in 65 countries. In 2015, the organization will package 45 million meals, and ship over $9 million in donated aid, mainly vitamins and medical supplies.
