On Saturday, April 25, 2015, over 600 local volunteers gathered to sort, prep, and pack over 85,000 nutritious meals to be sent to school feeding programs in 65 countries around the world. The Stop Hunger Now national organization (www.stophungernow.org) and its local chapter organized the event which was sponsored by a local church congregation and community.
“By providing meals for school feeding programs children stay in school which helps bring up literacy rates and break the cycle of poverty and end hunger. “, Ryan Ponds of Stop Hunger Now
“Millions of men, women and children in this world go hungry every day and we wanted to do something about it.”, Jenna Harline, Assistant Director of Interfaith Relations for the Laguna Niguel Stake and local organizer of the event.
The local congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints known as the Laguna Niguel Stake hosted the volunteer packing event at its Aliso Viejo chapel. The Church identified the project via its JustServe platform (www.justserve.org) which matches faith, nonprofit, community and governmental organizations that need volunteers with volunteers willing to help.
“There is such a great feeling here today when you look around and see there is a part for everyone in this process of building these meals.”, Robert Davis, Laguna Niguel Stake President
Church members and general members of the community also raised over $25,000 dollars to fund the components of the meals that were packaged. Each meal cost 29 cents to develop, apart from the volunteer labor to assemble and pack for shipment. The project’s goal was to package at least 75,000 and surpassed the goal by more than 10,000 meals.
“It feels great, it’s awesome to be here helping others and giving back.”, Steve Warble of Laguna Hills, Ca.
“I can’t believe how many meals we are making here. This is incredible.”, Bryan Thacker of Laguna Niguel
Working as a well-oiled machine, volunteers made meals consisting of soy, rice, dried vegetables and vitamins and nutrients.
“A lot of people doing little things really makes a difference.”, Parker McPherson of Laguna Hills.
“Just watching my 6 year old be earnest about his work and his enthusiasm to serve was worth being here.”, Kristin Kimball of Laguna Beach
It took the volunteers under four hours to package all of the meals. Every time they reached the 1,000 meals a gong was hit and the crowd cheered on.
And age didn’t stop anyone. From the very youngest age 4 to the oldest–90 year old Edith Holm of Laguna Hills, Ca. Everyone lent a helping hand.
Annually, the Church seeks to engage its significant local membership in meaningful service under a program known as “Helping Hands”. The Mormon Helping Hands program was established in 1998, and since then hundreds of thousands of volunteers have donated millions of hours of service to their communities. The program started in South America but has since spread to nearly every corner of the world.
The Mormon Helping Hands program brings together members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their neighbors to provide community service. These volunteers in their trademark yellow shirts help people whose lives have been affected by natural disasters and other emergencies. Mormon Helping Hands volunteers also partner with government and nonprofit organizations to support and improve the communities where they live.
Other members of the community, as well as local businesses and their employees came to serve. 11 year old Azmeet Dhillon found the event on Stop Hunger Now’s website and drove with his mother, Jaswinder Dhillon, 60 minutes to attend the service project.
“The best thing about this Just Serving Helping Hands project is seeing a community come together to make a difference and be excited about it.”, Jenna Harline, Event Organizer
Sister Connie Johnson of the California Irvine Mission summed the day up perfectly, “It’s just fun serving together….service is awesome!”
If you’re wondering how your hands can help visit www.JustServe.org
Kristen Kamerman
Laguna Niguel Stake Public Affairs Specialist
