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Community Corner

10,000 Meals in Under Two Hours

Stop Hunger Now at Harmony Grove UMC drew neighbors, parishioners and volunteers from organizations such as the Lilburn Woman's Club to help pack meal kits earmarked for malnourished children in Uganda.

Pastor Debbie Carlton and daughter Sophia beamed as they welcomed more than 70 local volunteers, including multiple generations of family members, to Saturday morning to the meal-packaging event.   

The event drew neighbors, parishioners and volunteers from organizations such as the to help pack 10,000 meal kits earmarked for malnourished children in Uganda. 

Every meal kit was individually assembled with a carefully measured combination of dehydrated beans, dehydrated vegetables, rice and one dietary supplement package containing of vitamins specifically targeted to benefit children suffering from malnutrition.  Each kit will feed up to six hungry children, so in return for just under two hours of work, the group ultimately generated an estimated 60,000 meals.

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Jerry Witt, the official C.H.E.F. (Certified Hunger Event Facilitator) with the Stop Hunger Now campaign was pleased with the turnout.

“I’ve been with the organization for only two months now and continue to be very enthusiastic about the difference we are making in the lives of these children.”   

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The room filled with cheers and applause whenever Witt sounded the gong, which indicated a milestone of 1,000 meal kits had been packed and ready to ship.  

Witt said that each meal costs only 25 cents and their mission is to create a movement to end hunger in our lifetime. Thanks to churches, organizations and corporate sponsors Stop Hunger Now has provided meals to schools around the world with the intention that parents will send their children to school for at least one hot meal during the day.

It’s one way to entice parents in third-world countries to send their children to school when they might not otherwise consider doing so. 

If your group is interested in sponsoring a meal-packaging event log on to www.stophungernow.org and find out how you can help.

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