FORTVILLE — A cheer rang out from one of the tables in the cafeteria at Mt. Vernon Middle School.
It wasn’t a school day. The students weren’t eating meals, but rather spending their Saturday morning preparing them. Wearing hairnets and sterile gloves while wielding measuring cups and spoons, they stood before boxes of ingredients to create a meal-preparation assembly line.
Patrick Crouch, a teacher and student council adviser at the middle school, explained the teams at each of the tables cheered whenever a meal weighed in at exactly the targeted measurement and when a box reached its capacity of bagged meals.
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“A little friendly competition,” Crouch said. “…It keeps the energy flowing.”
The students and their teachers prepared thousands of meals on Feb. 22 as part of an effort to fight food insecurity in a state that’s higher than the national average.
About 40 to 50 students from the middle school and Mt. Comfort Elementary School participated in the event for Million Meal Movement. The Indianapolis-based nonprofit organization has packed more than 30 million meals since its founding in 2007.
Molly Adams, development coordinator for Million Meal Movement, said the meals contain rice, soy protein, a vitamin powder with 21 vitamins and minerals and a mix of six different dehydrated vegetables.
With boiling water, the meals can be prepared into a nutritious casserole that meets vegetarian and gluten-free diets, Adams said.
Mt. Vernon students prepared 12,600 meals Saturday. The two schools also raised $2,400 for Million Meal Movement.
Adams said those who work with Million Meal Movement raise funds and pack the meals.
“Instead of just writing a check somewhere, you’re actually donating money and you get to see where your money is going,” she said.
The organization also contributed $1,000 from its grant funds toward Mt. Vernon’s efforts, Adams said.
After the packing event, the meals went to Million Meal Movement’s warehouse in Indianapolis, where they’ll be stored until eventually heading out to food pantries in the Muncie area. Adams said it’s one of the most food-insecure areas in the state.
The nonprofit organization Feeding America defines food insecurity as “a household’s inability to provide enough food for every person to live an active, healthy life.”
One doesn’t have to be poor or homeless to be food insecure, Adams said.
“They don’t have enough money at the end of the month to put food on their table because they’re paying bills, they’re paying mortgages, they’re paying hospital bills,” she added.
Indiana’s food insecurity rate was 13.3% in 2017, according to latest data available from Feeding America. Hancock County’s was 9.5 percent. Delaware County, where Muncie is the county seat, was 16.1%. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the country’s food insecurity average was 11.7% between 2016 and 2018.
Mt. Vernon hosted its second Million Meal Movement packing event on Saturday. Last year, the corporation’s high school, middle school and Fortville Elementary School participated.
Pop music played as volunteers scooped ingredients into funnels above bags that were then weighed, sealed and packed into boxes.
Ashley Schenck, a fifth-grade teacher and student council sponsor at Mt. Comfort Elementary School, manned the dehydrated vegetables box at her table.
“I want my students to see the importance of volunteerism and that doing things for others in the community takes time out of our schedule but is important because we’re literally feeding mouths of hungry people,” she said.
Misha Patel, eighth-grade student council president at Mt. Vernon Middle School, said she enjoys student council because it gives her opportunities to give back to the community. She also went to a Million Meal Movement packing event with her classmates at Lucas Oil Stadium last November.
“There’s a lot of people who can’t afford food,” Patel said. “They don’t have the things that a lot of us are able to get and we’re provided with. It just makes me feel bad that they don’t get that stuff. So if I have the opportunity to give back to them, I felt that I should be a part of it.”
Lexi Zumwalt, a fourth-grader and member of student council at Mt. Comfort Elementary School, volunteered Saturday for a similar reason.
“It just helps me feel better that I know I’m helping other people,” she said.
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Opportunities are available for sponsoring and participating in Million Meal Movement packing events. Visit millionmealmovement.org for more information.
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Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation Million Meal Movement packing event
12,600 meals packed
$2,400 raised
13.3% Indiana’s food insecurity rate
9.5% Hancock County’s food insecurity rate
11.7% U.S. food insecurity rate
Sources: Million Meal Movement, Feeding America, U.S. Department of Agriculture
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