Once a year, after church on a Sunday, fifty or more of us gather in the parish hall to package ten thousand meals with Rise Against Hunger. Volunteers of every age work side by side, from young children to members in their eighties, and the whole job, from setup to cleanup, takes about two hours.
Rise Against Hunger, founded in 1998 as Stop Hunger Now, is an international hunger relief organization based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Its staff bring everything we need and show us how to fill, weigh, seal, and box each meal: rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables, and a packet of 18 vitamins and minerals. The meals are shipped to people in developing countries, many of them through school feeding programs. Past meals from St. John’s have gone to Central America and West Africa, and to schoolchildren in Nicaragua.
The meals are paid for ahead of time, through the parish’s outreach funds and gifts from members. To give toward the meals or to join the packing team, contact the Parish Office.
St. John’s held its first packaging event in 2016. Read about that first Sunday and our third year, in 2018.