More than 4 million meals packed during 2010 Meals from the Heartland Event

More than 14,437 people from 11 states and 6 countries gathered in Central Iowa from Sept. 2 – 5 to package 4,490,640 meals for Meals from the Heartland. The event is thought to be the United State’s largest volunteer food packaging event. The meals are currently on their way to  malnourished children and families living in Haiti, Jamaica, South Africa, and New Mexico. Support will also be provided to homeless veterans, homeless shelters and food banks in Iowa.

Highlights of the event:

• Volunteers came from eleven states, including: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
• Besides the United States, six other countries were represented by volunteers. Those included: China, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Russia and Switzerland.
• More than 70 businesses, 80 churches and two-dozen area schools supported the event by contributing money, donated goods, services or other support, including sponsoring teams of volunteers to help package.
• On opening night of the event, 800 students from 21 area high schools packaged 327,888 meals during the “Student Challenge”, sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred.
• Volunteers also donated thousands of pounds of food for the Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) food pantry.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this event a success!

Day 2 – 2,509,056 Meals Packaged!

Day two of Meals from the Heartland, a mass meal-packaging effort by thousands of Iowa volunteers, has resulted in a total of 2,509,056 million meals for the world’s hungry. Meals from the Heartland, a volunteer-run non-profit organization, is occupying Hy-Vee Hall September 2-5 with the goal of packaging more than 4 million meals by Sunday to be shipped to poor countries around the globe.

More than 3200 volunteers flowed through Hy-Vee Hall Friday for two-hour packaging shifts. Bags of rice, soy, dried vegetables and vitamin powder were sealed and boxed for shipment to countries in need like Haiti, Africa, Jamaica and shelters within the United States.

Meals from the Heartland has held annual packaging events since 2008. This year, special vignettes were constructed to show the living conditions volunteers have witnessed when delivering meals to people in poor countries like Haiti and Africa. Also new this year are pieces of hand-made wood furniture for sale that were donated by an anonymous craftsman. All proceeds from the sale will be used to purchase ingredients for Meals from the Heartland.

Day 1 – More than 1 Million Meals Packaged!

Day one of a four-day venture of mass meal packaging by Iowans has produced 1,525,392 packaged meals on Thursday. Meals from the Heartland, a non-profit organization, is occupying Hy-Vee Hall September 2-5 for volunteers with the goal of packaging four million meals for the world’s hungry.

More than 3,000 volunteers flowed through Hy-Vee Hall for two-hour packaging shifts throughout the day. Bags of rice, soy, dried vegetables and vitamin powder were sealed and boxed for shipment to places like Haiti, Africa, Jamaica and shelters within the United States.

More than 850 high school students packed the hall in the evening to take part in the Student Challenge 2010, sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred. The goal was to package 285,000 meals. The students met and exceeded the goal by packaging a total of 327,888 in just two hours.

Meals from the Heartland has held annual packaging events since 2008. This year, special vignettes were constructed to show the living conditions volunteers have witnessed when delivering meals to people in poor countries like Haiti and Africa. Also new this year are pieces of hand-made wood furniture for sale that were donated by an anonymous craftsman. All proceeds from the sale will be used to purchase ingredients for Meals from the Heartland.