For the last year Union United Church of Christ in Neffs has been preparing to host a meal packing event for Feed My Starving Children.

They needed to raise $30,000 to pack 100,000 meals which would feed 276 kids for a year.

They can’t thank the community enough for helping them reach this goal.

So many businesses, churches, Scouts, 4-H and individuals were involved in funding this important work.

The event was held Oct. 10, 11 and 12 at the church in Neffs.

In six shifts, there were 382 volunteers who packed 468 boxes of 101, 088 meals.

What an incredible turnout of people coming together to help others.

They want to thank everyone who volunteered, some of them came for several shifts.

They know they could not have accomplished this goal without the volunteers.

According to the FMSC website: “Every year, millions of children die from preventable causes such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and undernutrition. Hunger is still causing nearly half of deaths in children under 5 years old. From this data, we estimate at least 6,200 children die each day from causes related to undernutrition.

“Feed My Starving Children believes hope starts with food. As a Christian nonprofit, FMSC is dedicated to seeing every child whole in body and spirit. FMSC works with food distribution partners that stay with communities for the long haul, empowering them to move from relief to development.

“FMSC meals are developed by food science and nutrition professionals to supplement nutritional needs and reduce problems with malnutrition. Nutrition allows children to grow, thrive and develop to their full potential.”

Eliot Lightner is the person who inspired the idea of hosting a meal packing event.

He was facing a hard time and he attended an FMSC event and the hope he saw there helped give him hope in his own life.

It’s a great story of how helping others helps them and helps us.

This is the fourth time Union UCC has hosted this event (that’s 400,000 meals).

Meals have gone to countries in Africa and the last time they went to the Ukraine.

Soon they will discover where these meals will travel to give hope to kids and their families and communities.

Union UCC says thank you again to everyone who worked together to help make this dream a reality.

Follow them to learn where the meals go and if you and your family, friends, church or business would like to participate in their event next year.