The Huron River Methodist Church (HRMC) recently hosted an event in collaboration with St. Joe’s Church, Saline Global Methodist Fellowship, and local volunteers to pack meals for the international nonprofit Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). The event took place in HRMC’s gymnasium, where volunteers worked to assemble meals intended to combat global hunger.

The process involves volunteers hand-packing meals funded by donations to keep production costs minimal. Each meal, costing twenty-five cents to produce, includes powdered vitamins, dehydrated vegetables, soy protein, and rice. Nutritionists chose these ingredients to address specific nutritional deficits and help reduce the incidence of life-threatening conditions like pneumonia and diarrhea.

This year marked the seventh annual meal-packing event held by HRMC, consisting of three two-hour shifts on April 6th. A total of 434 volunteers participated, packing 101,088 meals. This effort will provide enough food to feed 276 children for a year, contributing to the over 793,152 meals packed during the church’s seven events hosted over 13 years. Collectively, these events have raised and donated $175,000 to FMSC.

FMSC, operational since 1987, has sent meals to 108 countries since 2009, including Cambodia, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Zimbabwe. The nonprofit organization ensures that recipients of the meals are selected based on the percentage of children fed, availability of funding, and experience with customs clearance. Typically, a year’s food supply is distributed to ensure a stable food source for the recipients.

Despite FMSC’s global reach, the adoption of their meals within the U.S. has been limited. FMSC explained on its website, “Our meals were designed for the severe undernutrition that is more common in the developing world. Its taste and texture is not as well received in the U.S. When we get requests from domestic hunger programs, such as following a disaster, we send a sample box. This has not led to any large-scale requests.”

“It’s just a powerful Ministry of people serving other people, and we have been blessed to be a blessing to others,” says Tom Snyder, HRMC Pastor of Missions & Evangelism. “God has called us to help those in need, those who are less fortunate, and this is a great way for us in the United States to do that.”

Photos courtesy of HRMC