Volunteers pictured packed meals for the 2022 MobilePack. Photo provided by Megan Stone.

By Madison Hart
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Feed My Starving Children Warsaw MobilePack, a family-friendly community service event, will return in October at the Warsaw Community High School Tiger Recreation and Activity Center.

Volunteers are needed for two-hour shifts 6-8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21; Tuesday, Oct. 22; and Wednesday, Oct. 23, to pack nutritionally complete meals for malnourished children around the world. Registration opens on Sept. 16, and spots are expected to fill up quickly, with 500 slots available per session. Individuals, families, churches, neighborhoods and book clubs are all welcome, with participants aged 5 and up. There are jobs available for everyone, regardless of age or ability.

“When you put your hands to work and you’re doing it with others, it not only helps someone else, it transforms you to be part of something bigger than yourself,” said Warsaw MobilePack Chairperson Megan Stone.

FMSC is a Christian nonprofit organization founded in 1987 that provides nutritionally complete meals for malnourished children. The meals include rice, vegetables, soy and vitamins, specifically formulated to alleviate malnutrition. The MobilePack event is a unique opportunity for the local community to come together and pack these meals.

Volunteers from the community will raise funds to cover the cost of the ingredients and pack the meals. Machine packing is significantly more costly, and this hands-on experience allows the community to actively participate in service and global citizenship. Five semi-trucks full of ingredients will be delivered, unloaded, packed and reloaded — all powered by local manpower. FMSC’s non-governmental partners then handle the shipping of these meals to various locations worldwide.

The goal of the 2024 Warsaw MobilePack event is to pack 1 million meals with the help of 5,000 volunteers, including 2,000 students from local schools and homeschool groups, according to Stone. The cost of the meals are $0.29 each, so with a goal to pack 1 million meals, the total fundraising goal is $291,000.

This will be the seventh Warsaw MobilePack event, with the last one held in 2022. Over the past seven years, the community has packed and shipped 5 million meals to countries including Haiti, Uganda, Nicaragua, Malawi and Chad.

There will be nine packing sessions in total. In addition to the community sessions, there will be five school shifts, which are not open to the public. These sessions aim to build compassion among Warsaw Community Schools’ students, raise awareness about global citizenship and fulfill WCS’s mission of enriching the lives of others.

A corporate challenge will also be held from 2-4:40 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, where 500 business leaders will compete for the Hunger Hero Trophy in a high-energy, team-building experience that includes packing, sealing, measuring and weighing meals.

Corporate participants are invited to sponsor the event, with a sponsorship deadline of Sept. 1. Interested parties can contact Megan Stone at [email protected].

T-shirts will be available online, with all proceeds going toward funding meals. Orders must be placed by Sept. 16 to guarantee arrival by Oct. 1. It’s encouraged to dress as superheroes for the event to add to the fun.

This event is made possible thanks to many generous sponsors, including Hunger Impact Sponsors: SYM Financial, Warsaw Community Schools and Zimmer Biomet, as well as Hunger Conqueror Sponsors: Warsaw Community Church, Maple Leaf Farms, DePuy, Downtown Eatery and many more.

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