Login had the remarkable opportunity to serve as a team packing MannaRice meals for Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) through one of our clients, Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene (OVCN). It’s easy to forget that hunger is still causing nearly half of the deaths in children under 5 years old. FMSC did an amazing job educating each of us on the needs of the organization and how we, the volunteers, can help turn hunger into hope with our own two hands.
Login’s goal was to pack 25 boxes (each box feeds 216 kids a meal) in the two hour window commitment. Packing a meal consists of 10 people at a station where two people trade off putting the meal bag at the end of a funnel while a scoop of powdered vitamins, a scoop of dehydrated vegetables, a cup of soy and a cup of rice are added in. Once the bag has been filled it gets weighed to ensure it’s between 380-400 grams. From there, it gets heat sealed and then packed into a box. While it’s a lot of repetitive motions, you get super competitive filling them. All of the teams participating are yelling out “box!” once they have a full one and are calling out the number of boxes they have completed so far. There are also volunteers running around refilling supplies as teams yell out their needs so they don’t lose momentum.
Literally everyone is moving, shaking, singing, cheering, friendly smack talking, creating a high energy environment that was motivating teams to pump out as many meal packs as they could. Through lots of smiles, laughter and teasing, the Login team rocked it, ending their 2 hour session with 28 boxes packed; providing 6,048 kids in Haiti and South Africa with a meal. And that was just our team; the entire 6 day event closed with packing 1,122,120 meals!!
I can genuinely say, I’ve never had so much fun in a hair net! There is great joy in making a difference, serving with the Login team while meeting new faces, and knowing our combined efforts go towards a much greater cause across the globe. The Login team finished the event #2 on the leader-board for the most boxes packed and will not forget the experience. Next year, watch out… the Login team will be returning and we will surpass the 28 boxes from this year!