I saw a post from a
friend on Facebook about a volunteering experience she had recently been a part
of and how great she felt about it. A teacher, mother, and spiritually
enlightened individual, my friend had to make time to give time and yet
received a sense of accomplishment far greater than she expended. I wanted some
of that, too.
So, a few days later, another friend and I signed up for a shift at the Libertyville
location for FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN. Not sure what all it entailed when I
put in my reservation to work, we showed up to make meals to send to
underdeveloped countries around the world. After signing in, we received a
hairnet and an invitation to join the others in a large room with lots of
wooden benches. We were introduced to the guy in charge, saw a brief video on
the organization, had an overview on what we were going to do, and proceeded to
scrub up and get down to work. I learned we were making manna.
You might have heard of
the word manna in connection with the Bible. Manna was the miraculous food that
fed the Israelites when they were in the Egyptian desert. Manna is also defined
as an unexpected, but much needed gift, divine nourishment, or some special
assistance to relieve pain or discontent. You get the gist.
Costing less than $1.32,
the manna I am talking about and that I helped prepare is a prepackaged dry
meal, which provides a nutritionally complete and protein-rich serving for six.
It addresses hunger for the severely malnourished child, while being in an
acceptable form for all cultures. This is very important, because these three special
formulas prepared solely by volunteers in seven permanent sites are distributed
to almost 70 countries.
FMSC is a Christian
nonprofit organization and was started in 1987 to provide complete
nutritionally-based meals for starving, malnourished, and recovering children.
It has a four star rating from Charity Navigator for eight out of the last ten
years. A much higher score than many more recognizable charities, with 92% of
total donations going right to the task of feeding children.
There are a number of
sites to volunteer at in the Chicago area, but the Libertyville location was
closest for us. You could go by yourself, with a group, or plan an event with
your family. Birthday parties with a twist for children, scouting events, school
or church outings can be scheduled for two hour shifts on Wednesday, Friday, or
Saturday. Children as young as kindergarteners are welcome with an adult, and as
the kids get older the number with an adult increases. Just go to fmsc.org for
more information and make a reservation.
I guarantee this is the
best two hours you’ll ever have for volunteering. The room is full of like-minded
individuals joining together to feed the world. If standing is a problem, sit
down jobs are available. From adding the dehydrated veggies, soy, enriched
vitamin powder, and rice or potato base, weighing, sealing, filling the cases,
and moving them to the warehouse, everyone had a job. Even the waste was used
to feed local farm animals. Music played and the cheers when another case was
ready for the pallet was heard from each station named for one of the countries
serviced. Some of the earlier shipments were diverted to the Philippines
ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan in November. Our food was being shipped to Honduras,
as were the other shifts of the day.
Before our session
ended we were given a sample of what we just packaged and we heard the numbers
we produced. In our session, we made enough for 51 kids to eat for a year. In
two short hours we made a major difference. I tell you, it did my heart good.
**Update- Gurnee School
District 56 and specifically River Trail School collected $900 for this worthy
cause and all the middle school kids will go as a field trip later in the
school year and work a session. The good news continues…
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