Serving Country and Community: Marines volunteer to package crisis relief meals at Aurora United Methodist Church

Photo By Sgt. Tiffany Edwards | Marines and New Orleans community members pour, seal and box dehydrated meals for crisis relief at the Stop Hunger Now event at Aurora United Methodist Church, Oct. 13. Roughly 150 volunteers from the Marines and the local community attended the church’s event and packaged 50,000 meals. This was the church’s second Stop Hunger Now Event, the first being held in March 2013. (U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Lance Cpl. Tiffany Edwards)  

NEW ORLEANS, LA, UNITED STATES

10.13.2013

Story by Lance Cpl. Tiffany Edwards 

Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES)

NEW ORLEANS - It was a simple goal: get 50,000 meals out the door as quickly as possible. Hundreds of men, women and children donning hairnets and plastic gloves hustled around the open church gymnasium, taping boxes and organizing workstations, as coordinators gave instructions over the speaker system. When the order was given, Marines, community members and church-goers at Aurora United Methodist Church, began paving the way for thousands of hungry, impoverished people to be fed all over the world.

Marines from Marine Forces Reserve joined the members of AUMC in their second “Stop Hunger Now” event of 2013. Volunteers filled and sealed bags with a mixture of rice, dried soybeans and dried vegetables to be shipped to areas that need it most. These meals go to clinics, schools and orphanages in developing countries, as well as areas where crisis relief efforts are needed.

According to Linda Prout, the AUMC missions committee chairman, this was the church’s second time hosting the event, the first being in March 2013, where 70 volunteers packaged 10,000 meals. For this event, 150 volunteers packaged 50,000 meals.

“Ten thousand was about as much as we could handle even with other churches coming in to help,” Prout said. “Without the Marines and the community it just wouldn’t be possible.”

According to the Stop Hunger Now website, the internationally-known hunger relief organization began in 1998. Stop Hunger Now’s meal-packaging program officially began in 2005 and is essentially powered by volunteer groups from schools, community organizations, clubs or churches like the AUMC that sponsor annual or semi-annual events. Since it began, the program has provided pre-packaged, dehydrated meals to more than 43 countries. According to Stop Hunger Now’s 2012 annual report, roughly than 87,000 volunteers packed more than 26 million meals, which were shipped to 28 countries.

The primary goal of the meal-packaging program is to support school and feeding programs in third-world countries. According to their website, impoverished families are more likely to send their children to schools if they know their children will be fed, ultimately allowing more children access to educational opportunities.

Ultimately, millions of children’s educations can be affected by a group of people taking time to package food for a few hours in a gymnasium.

Throughout the event, music played over a speaker system, giving the day a soundtrack as people chatted and called to each other for supplies. Underneath the noise, the thump of storage bins and soft hiss of dried grains being poured could be heard. Soon after the packaging began, the crowd cheered as the sound of a brass gong rang through the gymnasium, marking 1,000 meals packaged. The gong rang again and again throughout the day as the volunteers picked up their pace and formed a rhythm with their production.

Master Sgt. Rebecca Zahrndt, volunteer coordinator for MARFORRES, said events like Stop Hunger Now allow Marines and community members to see how large of an impact their actions have on the global community.

“Just being able to help is a gift,” Zahrndt said. “When volunteering within the community, there are just so many positive ways to go about it.”

Cpl. Xiomary Matos-Rodriguez, a supply specialist at MARFORRES, said the experience at the church was something everyone could enjoy. Matos-Rodriguez worked alongside community members of all ages for roughly two hours, filling packages and getting to know the people around her who shared the same interest in making an impact.

“I think if you have the time to do it, why not?” Matos-Rodriguez said. “You are only helping other people. It’s good to give. As Marines we have so many things that come to us.”

At the end of the event, 50,000 meals lay filled, sealed and ready to be delivered to those who needed it the most. The work was done, each box filled with enough food to provide hundreds of people from across the world a chance at a happier, healthier life; a chance they may not have had until the volunteers took the time to make it happen. Dozens of people, Marines and civilians alike, left the church on the sunny Sunday afternoon, having forged a bond with each other through a cause greater than them all.

• Date Taken: 10.13.2013
• Date Posted: 10.22.2013 13:01
• Story ID: 115538
• Location: NEW ORLEANS, LA, US