The Minnesota Action Corps takes action with Feed My Starving Children to send food to children around the world. When not lobbying, tabling or event planning, the Action Corps participates in direct service to help out their local communities while promoting worldwide solutions. To see more from the Minnesota Action Corps check out their local blog and Facebook page.
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By Brett Smith
On Saturday morning, December 8, 2012, eight volunteers from Oxfam Action Corps Minnesota helped pack food for hungry children at the Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) facility in Eagan, MN. Joining a number of other groups and totaling 54 volunteers, we helped pack over 13,000 meals for kids in Haiti or Nicaragua. According to FMST, this is enough food to feed 38 children for a year.
FMSC is a Christian non-profit organization that provides food to children in nearly 70 countries around the world. The organization believes in the right of every child to be fed a nutritious meal; that our lives are enriched when we give of our time and resources to help those in need; and that cooperation with other faith based and humanitarian organizations maximizes the ability to get food to hungry children. They also believe in using lots of volunteer help to pack the food and in making the whole experience a good time.
The FMSC approach is to create simple and nutritious food packets which can be easily packed and shipped anywhere in the world. Our experience in this food packing was enlightening, efficient, and fun. Each food packet (called a Manna Pack) contains a carefully measured portion of rice, soybeans, dried vegetables, and a vitamin mix. These ingredients are then placed in a sealed plastic bag and shipped. Our Oxfam team worked together in assembly line fashion to measure the ingredients, fill the plastic bag, weigh it, and then seal it for placing in the food boxes. Working together our Oxfam team alone managed to create almost 2,000 meals in a bit under two hours.
We also had fun! We all agreed that we looked really good in full hair nets. We enjoyed yelling at the “rice guy” when he put a gram or two too much or too little in the packet. We bragged to each other about how we had the cleanest packing table in the place. We grooved on the loudspeaker music background – my personal favorite being “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys. We talked about Oxfam’s plans, the political situation, and our own plans among other things.
All in all this was a great experience. We are grateful to FMSC for providing such a fun and productive volunteer experience and for the great work that they do around the world in getting food to the hungry, and to our Oxfam organizers for making our work possible. We would encourage others, either as individuals or groups, to link up with FMSC or other organizations involved in providing food to the hungry. It makes for a great team building experience and adds an important direct service aspect to Oxfam’s work. This was a great way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday morning.
