Feed My Starving Children

That is probably not the best title for this post because it implies my children are starving, but it is an attention getter right? Read on and you will understand. For a long time, I have wanted to find a place where my family could go and help out. Probably because of my lack of imagination, but I have struggled to find a place that allows younger children to participate too. Months ago, my friend Tiffany told me about a place called "Feed My Starving Children" where her ward Relief Society went to volunteer. (I cannot figure out the link option, so check out their website at www.fmsc.org.) They worked in teams to measure food ingredients into bags, weigh and heat seal them and then pack the boxes to be shipped around the world. I thought it sounded really neat and so I locked that information into my brain and quickly forgot about it.
Then last week my dad called and told me about this cool project that his church was taking on. They wanted to pack 1,000,000 meals in a week for this cool organization. I listened and thought it would be neat to include the kiddos. Guess what? It was the same organization. Also, they welcome helpers of all ages. We had an amazing time.

We got to see a great video that showed how much this program helps kids around the world. We then went to work. Andrew got to scoop rice, chicken, vegetables and soy...Ryan enjoyed the same scooping jobs but he also got to help with the heat sealing and Emily also had a turn with scooping, weighing and sealing.
I loved that the kiddos got to think about others needs and actually do something about it. Andrew said, "the best part is that we worked really hard." Emily said she won't ever say she is starving again, and of course Ryan was all about helping out people. The kiddos had so much fun, that they went 2 times last week with Grandpa Bill. Dad's church met and exceeded their goal, which I am sure is because my 4, 7 and 9 year olds were able to help out too. I picked up a FMSC brochure and found out that this is something that we can easily do again and again. (not the 1,000,000 meals in a week part...but the service part)