NEW PALESTINE — The flaps of the cardboard box reached almost to her waist.
Three-year-old June Smith took the just-packaged meals handed to her and laid the plastic bags in a box for shipment.
Nearby, her mother and older brother Ethan, 7, were part of the assembly line putting measured scoops of nutrients, protein, dried vegetables and rice into bags to make the meal kits.
“I knew there would be some chore she could help with,” Emily Smith said.
People from several churches gathered Aug. 21 at New Palestine United Methodist Church to pack 50,000 meals that will be sent to feed hungry people in Guatemala and Haiti.
The churches paid $15,000 to cover the 30-cents-per-meal cost of packaging the meals through Pack Away Hunger. Organizers of the event aimed for 180 volunteers spread across a morning shift and an afternoon shift. The volunteers settled into assembly line rhythm; the two-hour afternoon shift ended early because the 50,000 meals had been packed.
A handful of local United Methodist congregations — New Palestine United Methodist Church, Gateway Community Church of Fortville, Mt. Comfort Church, McCordsville United Methodist Church and Cumberland United Methodist Church — supplied most of the volunteers, though others wanting to help were welcomed. Smith, for example, said her family attends a different church but feels a connection to the New Palestine church because her son plays Upward Basketball there.
The group of congregations packed meals together in 2019 at Mt. Comfort Church. Though they skipped 2020 amid COVID-19 safety concerns, the intention is to come together for this work annually.
“It’s a hands-on mission opportunity that we can do locally, that has a global impact, but it’s also open to families,” said the Rev. Anthony Stone, pastor of New Palestine United Methodist Church.
“This is an extraordinary turnout,” the Rev. Ethan Maple, pastor of Mt. Comfort Church, said as he looked around the gym. “It represents churches in all these different places after COVID.”
Smith said participating was important to her for her children “to learn that they have a chance to help others…
“We had just read in (my son’s) devotional last night about ways to be like Jesus,” she said, and they had talked about how serving is a good way.
Amanda Barth said her children remembered the 2019 meal pack and were excited to help out again. She hopes from participating they pick up on “just the value of serving their community and helping others.”
Abigail Harlan of Pack Away Hunger said in a typical month there are two to three meal-packing events through the organization. Volunteers at these events usually package 2 million meals a year, but in 2020, there were 329,000 packaged.
She said when shutdowns began in 2020, the meal inventory already on hand was able to be redirected to local food pantries. Now, with packing events picking back up, they’re trying to rebuild the inventory of meals.
The meals are designed to be reconstituted with water. They’re unseasoned so they can be tailored to local palates when they reach their destination.
Stone said the New Palestine church has a mission trip planned to Guatemala in 2022. He’s been on previous trips to Guatemala and has seen the nutrition classes offered to families and the meals served to school children. He said blood tests on the children who’ve eaten the food over the last eight to 10 years have demonstrated improved health among them.
“I’ve actually seen it, unloaded it from a semi and eaten it in Guatemala,” he said. With fresh chicken and some local spice, they way it was prepared for him there, it makes a good meal, he said.
“We learned how the schools used them, and we ate alongside the kids,” he said. “I’m really behind it. I’ve seen the ways lives have been changed.”
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Pack Away Hunger, which has its headquarters near I-465 and Emerson Avenue in Indianapolis, organizes food packing events throughout the year. Food is distributed to feed hungry people both locally and globally. To donate or join a meal-packing event, see www.packawayhunger.org or call 317-429-9876.
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