by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
A mind-boggling number of meals – 220,000, to be exact – were packaged by more than 700 volunteers during an event dubbed “Better Together: Feeding Our Communities” held July 29 at Apollo High School in St. Cloud.
People from St. Cloud and all the surrounding cities were members of the massive volunteer feat. Leslie Mulder of Sartell was one of the organizers, and many other Sartell residents contributed money or volunteered for the packaging sessions.
All of the meals packaged will go to food shelves, churches and other charity places in Central Minnesota to help feed hungry people.
The event was organized by the Central Minnesota Communities Coalition with help gladly offered by individuals, businesses, churches and organizations, such as United Way of Central Minnesota.
The CMCC raised $55,000 to purchase the ingredients that went into the dry food packages. The recipients then mix the package contents with boiling water until the “meal” is hydrated and edible. One of the highly nutritious meals contains enough protein, and added vitamins and minerals, to provide a family of four with a day’s worth of dietary needs.
At Apollo High School, the cafeteria was a busy hive of activity as four shifts of nearly 200 volunteers worked incessantly throughout the day to measure, mix and bag the healthy ingredients in their sealable plastic bags. Each shift worked two-hour time blocks. There were three kinds of meals made: tomato-basil pasta mixture; mac and cheese; and beans and rice. Each meal contains 11 grams of protein, and 21 vitamins and minerals, and each costs 25 cents total to buy the ingredients they contain.
Other volunteers worked to assemble big cardboard boxes into which the thousands of meals were placed. The boxes were then stacked at one end of the cafeteria, ready to be delivered to various places throughout Central Minnesota, such as the Salvation Army, Albany, Buffalo, The Cross Center, the Islamic Center and Catholic Charities. Many will also be delivered to other food shelves in the area.
A second shift of about 100 volunteers package food at Apollo High School July 28, a massive effort for local people who are hungry. People from all area cities took part in the effort.
Volunteers Mayuli Bales (left), Celia Langoya (right), Billy Joel Knutson (second from right) and Billy Joel’s mother, Kat Harrison (back, center) – all of St. Cloud – measure and bag meal ingredients at the “Bettter Together Feeding Our Community” event July 28 at Apollo High School in St. Cloud. Several hundred volunteers at the all-day event created more than 220,000 bags of food for the hungry in the central Minnesota area.
Matthew Martin of Boston, raised in Hutchinson, puts together boxes for food bags at the “Better Together Feeding Our Community” event July 28 at Apollo High School. Martin is the Northeast Region manager of “Outreach,” an Iowa-based program to feed the hungry. Martin and his family spend a month every summer in Minnesota helping with Outreach food programs.
Three of the organizers of “Better Together Feeding Our Community” are (left to right) Natalie Ringsmuth of Waite Park, Haji Yussuf of St. Cloud and Leslie Mulder of Sartell.
Malachi Martin takes a brief break after handling boxes at the “Better Together Feeding Our Community” event July 28 in St. Cloud. Malachi is the son of Matthew Martin of Boston, who also helped at the all-day feed-the-hungry effort. Matthew, who also helped assemble and pack boxes, is the Northeast Region manager of the Iowa-based “Outreach” program.
Stacked bags of food are ready to be boxed after volunteers measured and packed the nutritious meals July 28 at Apollo High School. More than 220,000 bags of food were packed, all of them bound for venues in central Minnesota to be used to help feed the hungry.
