Sunday, November 15, 2009

A feel-good chore



Cupcake and I, and her elementary school student council buddies, spend most of Friday afternoon packaging meals for Feed My Starving Children. It's a Christian organization but they explicitly state they are only about feeding the hungry - not mission work. Although feeding hungry kids is modeling your values and spirituality.

These images are from the website.

Cupcake and I decided we'd do this every year. FMSC is frequently brought to town through 5th Bridge, a local organization that's all about volunteering.

It's an amazing experience. Together with your team, you are placed at a well organized packing station. There you pack meals made with soy protein, dehydrated vegetables, a vegetarian chicken-flavor broth powder, and rice. Through a highly organized and streamlined system, you stand for a few hours and pack literally thousands of these meal pouches. FMSC brings in all the equipment and food. The host organization must provide 500+ volunteers and pay for all the food.

The best part is kids can be a huge help - they just loved dumping the ingredients down the funnel, weighing the packages, and sealing them up. We were all cheering every time we filled a box - as were all the other groups there: local college students, church groups, folks from local businesses, you name it.

A great afternoon, and time well spent.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I have particpated in FMSC for many years... it is such a cool expereince! We have a permanent site near us..it is cool that they have mobile units too!

SkylersDad said...

Good for you and the kids!

Shannon said...

That sounds awesome--and like something I would love to do with my girls when they're a bit older.

Missy said...

My friend and his daughter went to a birthday party held there last week! What an awesome idea!

Churlita said...

That is so cool. I've never heard of it before. I might talk to my daughter about setting something up like that at her school.

Life As I Know It Now said...

that is really cool and a nice thing to do with your family.

Sheleta said...

This is a great idea! I was just telling my husband that we need to do more to get our son to understand at an early age that it is important for him to give back.