On Saturday
morning, December 8, 2012, eight volunteers from Oxfam Action Corps Minnesota helped
pack food for hungry children at the Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) facility
in Eagan, MN. Joining a number of other groups and totaling 54 volunteers, we
helped pack over 13,000 meals for kids in Haiti or Nicaragua. According to
FMST, this is enough food to feed 38 children for a year.
FMSC is a
Christian non-profit organization that provides food to children in nearly 70
countries around the world. The organization believes in the right of every
child to be fed a nutritious meal; that our lives are enriched when we give of
our time and resources to help those in need; and that cooperation with other
faith based and humanitarian organizations maximizes the ability to get food to
hungry children. They also believe in using lots of volunteer help to pack the
food and in making the whole experience a good time.
The FMSC approach
is to create simple and nutritious food packets which can be easily packed and
shipped anywhere in the world. Our experience in this food packing was
enlightening, efficient, and fun. Each food packet (called a Manna Pack)
contains a carefully measured portion of rice, soybeans, dried vegetables, and
a vitamin mix. These ingredients are then placed in a sealed plastic bag and
shipped. Our Oxfam team worked together in assembly line fashion to measure the
ingredients, fill the plastic bag, weigh it, and then seal it for placing in
the food boxes. Working together our Oxfam team alone managed to create almost
2,000 meals in a bit under two hours.
We also had
fun! We all agreed that we looked really good in full hair nets. We enjoyed
yelling at the “rice guy” when he put a gram or two too much or too little in
the packet. We bragged to each other about how we had the cleanest packing
table in the place. We grooved on the loudspeaker music background – my
personal favorite being “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys. We talked about
Oxfam’s plans, the political situation, and our own plans among other things.
All in all
this was a great experience. We are grateful to FMSC for providing such a fun
and productive volunteer experience and for the great work that they do around
the world in getting food to the hungry, and to our Oxfam organizers for making
our work possible. We would encourage others, either as individuals or groups,
to link up with FMSC or other organizations involved in providing food to the
hungry. It makes for a great team building experience and adds an important
direct service aspect to Oxfam’s work. This was a great way to spend a couple
of hours on a Saturday morning.
