Prepare to pack

Take a couple of hours to help feed the world’s most underprivileged children.

Jay County High School students are offering the community that opportunity again this year.

Sign-up for the JCHS National Honor Society chapter’s Feed My Starving Children MobilePack event April 13 opened last week.

The local event is in its third year — the original group of students collectively earned the Jay County Citizen of the Year Award for its work — under the leadership of NHS advisor Chrissy Krieg. The year-long project is enough work that it’s a challenge to think about continuing year after year.

“And then, I have new officers and they come in with this excitement and this passion for the project,” said Krieg. “And then they revive that in me, and they help me remember how important all of this is.”

Feed My Starving Children is a Minnesota-based organization that focuses on feeding the most in need around the world — those who could die if not for receiving the meals it provides. Over its history, it has delivered more than 2.2 billion meals to a long list of locations, including Haiti, Guatemala, Ukraine and Thailand. 

In order to provide those meals affordably, FMSC relies on volunteers from across the country in a variety of ways. One of those is hosting MobilePack events, which involve packing meals of rice, soy, vitamins, minerals and dehydrated vegetables in small pouches. The meals are designed to be prepared by adding boiling water.

With jobs for those ages 5 through adults, virtually anyone can volunteer to help. Tasks include scooping rice or soy, affixing labels and packing and carrying boxes.

“I came and helped the day of set-up,” said Molly Ault, who is one of the eight students on the committee that is organizing the event. “I always wanted to do it, ever since I got into honor society. But last year, it opened my eyes.

“You can’t really put it into words until you actually go and you pack. You realize that you’re doing something that’s bigger than yourself …”

The MobilePack is the culmination of a year of work.

Krieg and the student committee members — Kaitlyn Ruiz, Carissa Mercer, Kaitlyn Dow, Klarisa Hemmelgarn, Kensey Litton, Gwen Omstead, Dawn Minnick and Ault — have spent the year raising the $25,000 necessary to pack the minimum of 100,000 meals. That effort has included some of the same activities as in past years, such as talking to local churches, schools and community groups to seek donations, as well as selling cotton candy at school events.

They also held a few of special events, including a fall carnival in October that involved Halloween-themed games, a costume contest and hayrides.

After winter weather forced cancelation of their “Swinter” event that was designed to involve summer activities during the winter months, the group shifted gears and hosted a “dive-in movie” in the JCHS pool. They also held a winter dance at Portland Lions Club Civic Center.

With enough funds now in hand, the focus is on the MobilePack. That includes recruiting volunteers.

It took less than 48 hours after registration opened last week for the first two-hour shift to fill up with 200 volunteers. The other shifts — noon to 2 p.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. — each still had more than 100 spots available as of this morning.

In order to sign up, visit bit.ly/2CN3gJx.

“I think it’s an opportunity for people who maybe aren’t typically serving the community to get a taste of that and to really see what a huge difference you can make if you’re just willing to give of your time,” said Krieg. “This is a two-hour shift, but at the end of it there’s no doubt that you’ve made an impact. You can’t walk away from that day feeling that you haven’t done something good.”