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A UNMS Report
By Linda Bloom*
12:00 P.M. ET Aug. 9, 2013
More than 1,200 volunteers, including 500 youth volunteers, pack 285,000
meals for shipment to Haiti during the Stop Hunger Now event held as
part of the 2013 South Carolina Annual (regional) Conference in
Florence, S.C. Photos by Matt Brodie.
View in Photo Gallery
After youth from the Greenville District of the United Methodist South Carolina Annual (regional) Conference had the chance to take part in a hands-on project at Youth 2011 to alleviate hunger, they knew they had to do it again.
Davis Crews, 13, a member of Advent United Methodist Church in
Simpsonville, S.C., remembers the discussion on the bus ride home. “We
just heard a call on our hearts to do a Stop Hunger Now packaging event in the district.”
The result has been several tractor-trailers crammed with six-serving
bags of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a flavoring mix with 21
essential vitamins and minerals, including one tractor-trailer filled
through a packaging event during the annual conference session in June.
South Carolina led the contributions from 10 annual conferences
participating in meal-packaging events for Stop Hunger Now this year.
In all, the conferences prepared 680,000 meals for distribution.
For Stop Hunger Now,
the purpose of having meal-packaging events during annual conference
sessions is more about “building this movement” than reaching a
specific target, said the Rev. Steve Hickle, a clergy member of the
North Carolina Annual Conference who serves as the organization’s faith
outreach director.
“It is kind of tricky to pull it off at an annual conference
session,” Hickle noted. “But it certainly raises the profile and has
lots and lots of churches trying to engage as we go forward.”
Youth lead the charge
In South Carolina, the youth energized others. In 2012, what was
planned to be a meal-packaging event for district youth evolved into a Great Day of Service
event for the entire Greenville district. After filling a
tractor-trailer with meals last year, the district repeated the effort
in April.
During one day of the annual conference session in June, three shifts
of people — about 1,200 in total, including more than 500 youth
— packed 285,000 meals into the 40-foot shipping container. The
final shift was opened to youth from all around the state.
“We had more volunteers than we could have even hoped to have,”
Virginia Crews, the mother of Davis, said. “We stepped out on faith
honestly really believing the money would come, but would the people
come. And they did.”
Having a meaningful service project suitable for all ages helps draw
the volunteers. “When they can touch it and see it and watch the boxes
stack up, I think there’s a true grasp of the concept that ‘we’ve done
something,’” she explained.
Although providing a very basic meal, Davis Crews pointed out that
Stop Hunger Now has worked with North Carolina State University to
create a formula “so they get the biggest punch with that little bag of
food.”
The meal-packaging event was one of three conference-wide activities
sponsored by the S.C. Hunger Project. More than 8,000 pounds of
non-perishable food items also were collected for distribution to
Harvest Hope Food Bank and other food pantries. Some local churches
held hunger-relief efforts in solidarity.
By the end of the annual conference session, South Carolina had raised $145,359 for hunger.
Of that, $72,000 went to Stop Hunger Now and more than $73,000 will go
to hunger efforts in all 12 districts in the conference.
Other conference packaging events
The Florida Conference launched its yearlong “A Million Reasons” campaign
to pack a million meals to fight hunger, completing 100,000 meals.
Stop Hunger Now also will receive a third of the nearly $102,000 raised
for this year's Bishop's Offering in the Florida Conference.
Davis Crews, 13, a member of Advent United Methodist Church in
Simpsonville, S.C., flashes a smile while packaging meals for Stop
Hunger Now.
View in Photo Gallery
In North Carolina, volunteers met the challenge set by Bishop Hope
Morgan Ward to package 100,000 meals during the annual conference
session in Greenville. A special offering for Stop Hunger Now raised
more than $12,000.
“We took her lead and were glad to do it,” Hickle said. “It went very well.”
In addition, the Susquehanna Conference in central Pennsylvania put
together 70,000 meals; Eastern Pennsylvania, 20,000 meals; Greater New
Jersey, 20,000 meals; South Georgia, 30,000 meals; Western
Pennsylvania, 25,000 meals; Tennessee, 20,000 meals, and New England,
10,000 meals.
Nina DaSilva Batista, aid distribution manager for Stop Hunger Now,
reported that meals from the South Georgia, Tennessee and Florida
conference already had been shipped to Haiti. South Carolina meals were
sent to Liberia and Greater New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania
conference meals shipped to Zambia. The remaining meals are expected to
be shipped soon.
“Roughly a third of our packaged meals have gone to Haiti,” Hickle
noted. “That was well established before the (2010) earthquake came.”
The agency operates meal-packaging locations in 17 cities throughout
the U.S. and international locations in South Africa and Malaysia. New
locations are expected to open in Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth and Italy
during 2013.
Setting up an event
Virginia Crews encourages other annual conferences to consider
hosting packaging events by first attending a nearby event. “Come in
for 30 minutes or a full 3-hour shift,” she advised. “It (the
experience) is something that is hard to put into words. It sounds so
complicated when you describe it … but it really is a simple process.
“Our experience with the Stop Hunger Now reps is that they are
fabulous,” Virginia Crews added. “You provide them with the 25 cents per
meal and the work force and they really take it from there.”
While it’s preferable for church leaders to contact Stop Hunger Now
early in the year to plan events for annual conference season, Hickle
pledges the organization will help on short notice if needed. “We’ve
trained event facilitators all over the country who can be called in for
events,” he explained.
Putting together meals as a group can be fun, Davis Crews said, but
even more exciting is doing so with the knowledge that the food is
distributed at schools where students are in need. He is starting high
school himself later this month and previously organized an event at
his middle school.
“If you send these meals to school, children are more likely to come
to school,” he explained. “Therefore, the children can get an education
and can help solve the poverty in their country.”
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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