We recently volunteered with my sons school soccer team to pack food boxes for an organization called FeedMyStarvingChildren.  I had never heard of this organization before and wow I am so grateful to see how they are making a difference around the world.

They provide meals for children all over in Haiti, Philippines and more.  I was very impressed with the system they had down to welcome volunteers from all kinds of organizations.  We had such a fun night, listing to music, packing food boxes and cheering each other on to see how many we could pack. 

They host what they call Mobile Packs all across the country.  We attended the Mobile Pack at St. Matthew's Church in Rocklin, CA. You can apply to host an event with your group or company here. We met in a room first, we were seated with our groups to maintain social distancing.  We watched a video about the organization, and a how to pack video.  We then were dismissed by group to go to hand washing stations, we all had hair nets and gloves, they had a great system in place.  Each group had tables and all the supplies needed to fill Manna Packs.  

We were filling packets called Manna Packs, we filled them with rice, veggies, vitamins and soy. From their website: [MannaPack™ Rice is a supplemental food packed with micronutrients that can be enhanced for both variety and nutritional value through its use in recipes that are tailored to the cultural preferences and regional resources. It contains textured soy, a high quality source of protein—one of the key factors for growth and physical development, including brain development. MannaPack™ Rice is also a source of micronutrients. It contains a premix of important vitamins and minerals that can be deficient in diets where there is food insecurity or a lack of resources.]

I am grateful as a parent for opportunities to give back in our community and around the world, it is a great way to serve alongside my children and model what we teach about giving back.  When you see videos of starving children, who struggle concentrating at school because they are so hungry, it sure does remind you of how much we have to be grateful for. 

St. Matthews Church in Rocklin hosted a three day packing event, after experiencing this, I wish I would have volunteered my younger children as well and made it a family event.  I will definitely do this again, when they are in our area.  They have easy labeling jobs that are sit down as well as the standing and scooping a cup of rice into a packet, there is something anyone can do.  I believe they said ages 5 and older can volunteer. 

On just one of the nights we packed 346 boxes, which was 74,736 servings of food, providing a meal for 204 children for an entire year.  We packed boxes from 7 PM to 9 PM and at the end we all gathered back to hear the totals and pray over the boxes being sent out.  I will definitely be participating again and hope you will find a Mobile Pack event near you so you can experience just how wonderful it is to give back.  

Each meal costs less than 25 cents, $88 feeds a child for one year. You can search for an event near you here.  For more information, to donate, or host a Mobile Pack event, check out their website https://www.fmsc.org/.