Great Local Artists To Perform During 2010 Packaging Event!

What’s better than whistling while you work?  Well, how about whistling along to some great local artists that have donated their time to perform while Meals from the Heartland and thousands of volunteers package to help feed the starving around the world?

All we can say is WE ARE TRULY BLESSED!

Below are the artists, dates and times they will be performing.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 2

Dueling Pianos 5:30-6:30pm
Tony Talbot 7:00-7:30pm
The Estate 7:30-9:00pm

FRIDAY, SEPT. 3

Dave Eickelberg & Band 5:30-6:30pm
Tony Talbot 6:30-7:00pm
Certainty Band 7:00-8:00pm

SATURDAY, SEPT. 4

Ryan Buck & Band 4:00-5:00
Tony Talbot
John Cheatem 5:00-6:00

SUNDAY, SEPT. 5

Buster and the Punks 5:00-6:00pm
Chris Petrick & Band 6:00-7:00pm
John Cheatem 7:00-8:00pm

Maybe you can reserve a packaging time during your favorite?

Your Generosity Continues To Feed Hungry Kids!

We’ve received more news from Haiti and our partners at Lifeline Christian Mission that Meals from the Heartland food packages are still helping kids in Haiti. The following is an excerpt from a recent Lifeline newsletter out of Haiti:

Food Distributions
Lifeline’s supply of food to distribute to the people in the tent cities (Relief Distribution) has now dwindled to the “Kids Food” that we receive from Kids Against Hunger, Impact Lives, Outreach International and Meals From The Heartland.  The other foods that were being shipped in have stopped coming (those from large organizations like World Food Program, etc.).

I am seeing better health in the kids that daily receive the hot meals through Lifeline, but there is no shortage of people coming to clinic who are in desperate need.  We continue to see many malnourished elderly, women, children and infants.

Thank you for your continued support of Meals from the Heartland! Without your time, donations and prayers, we wouldn’t be making such a difference!

Blessings,
The Meals from the Heartland Team

Packaging Volunteers Needed In Pella!

We hope you had a blessed Easter! We wanted to share with you a great packaging opportunity that will be taking place on Saturday, April 17 in Pella.

Pella Meals from the Heartland food packaging event is scheduled for April 17th at the Vermeer Global Pavilion in Pella, IA, from 8 am to 5 pm.  The Pella Volunteer Committee organizing the event expects to have a great turnout and would like to invite you to join them!

Here are some key facts and dates to keep in mind…

1) A team is generally 10 individuals, age 5 to 105.  Teams are asked to sign-up for a 2 hour time slot.  The time slots will begin at 8 and 8:30, 10 and 10:30, 12 and 12:30, 2 and 2:30, and 4 and 4:30.

2) If you are signing up teams with small children, please ensure that you have 1 adult as a part of the team for every 2 children.

Sign up by visiting: www.iowatelecom.net/pellameals and click on the link to volunteer or signup teams to package meals

Central Iowa’s support of earthquake relief in Haiti is making a difference. On Monday,  2 million meals were delivered to Florida where Lifeline Christian Ministries, Food For The Poor and Fellowship of Christian Farmers will ship the meals to Haiti for distribution to schools, orphanages, mission programs and other organizations.

The Pella event will be a part of helping us reach our goal of supplying more than 2.5 million meals to Haiti for earthquake relief.

Thanks again for your support of Meals from the Heartland!

Blessings!
The Meals from the Heartland Team

Isaiah 58:10 “Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.”

Rocking Meals for Haiti

Please join the Des Moines Blaze semi-professional football team this Saturday for a concert benefiting Meals from the Heartland!

Ricky Jimenez (@RickyDT97 on Twitter) , a Puerto Rico native and Des Moines Blaze football player, has organized the event to be held at Vaudeville Mews at 212 4th St. in downtown Des Moines. Jimenez has worked hard to coordinate the show as the cause holds a personal spot in his heart.

“I don’t want this concert to be a success, I need it to be a success,” Jimenez said. “I am doing it through my football team the Des Moines Blaze but it carries such personal weight for me. I think of the hurricanes, floods, the natural catastrophes I lived through and saw back home in Puerto Rico. I know this is exponentially larger. It makes me weep to think how many families have buried relatives and how many just lost family members and have nothing to bury.”

Doors for the concert open at 11 a.m. and admission is $15 with all proceeds going to Meals from the Heartland to help provide meals to those affected by the January earthquakes in Haiti.

The all-ages show will begin at noon and will feature local Des Moines bands including The Atudes, John Hardy, Shovel Kids, Decoy, Finn Miles, Tripp Marxx and Cashes Rivers.

Volunteers with Meals from the Heartland will also be on hand to discuss and answer questions about the effort.

You may read more about the concert at Ricky Jimenez’s blog at http://dt97.wordpress.com/ .

Haiti Relief Pours In

Meals from the Heartland has had the honor, over the last couple years, to have truly humbling support form our community as well as the local and national media.  As we come closer to the Help for Haiti packaging event on February 22nd, we’re seeing interest and commitments growing at an outstanding pace.

In just 30 days we have surpassed our goal of raising funding to package 300,000 meals for those suffering from the Haiti earthquakes to six times that.  YES! Thanks to our volunteers and Meals from the Heartland, the Help for Haiti event will be able to package 1.9 million meals!

Here is some of the media coverage from the local CBS affiliate, KCCI, that talks about Help for Haiti and the strides we have made in accomplishing this feat.

While Meals from the Heartland has worked hard in getting the word out, we do want to thank those that have helped with personal efforts.  We have seen everything from schools and social clubs to churches as well as our voice carried through social media to get the masses educated and motivated.  We can’t thank you enough.

Remember, the event is less than a week away and we could still use donations and volunteers.  To donate, please click here and submit your information.  If you would like to set up a team to package next week, please click here.

Thank you so much for your effort and your generosity.

God Bless!
The Meals from the Heartland Team

Around The Globe

Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. It is a country of 9 million people that geographically is slightly smaller than the state of Maryland. Please pray, give and serve as Meals from the Heartland is turning all available resources to helping the people of Haiti.

What if you found out you can change the world?

All you have to do is care enough to want to do what you can to share Iowa’s resources with those who face the very real prospect of starvation every day. Iowans have demonstrated over and over again how blessed we are to be living in the “Breadbasket of America” and how willing we are to share our bounty with those in need. Now, a grass-roots movement called “Meals from the Heartland” has been formed to actively organize relief efforts aimed at directly addressing the issue of world hunger. The leaders and volunteers of this effort are united by the single-minded conviction that Iowans simply can’t continue to be blessed with so much abundance, and at the same time, turn their backs on those in need.

Last year, Iowans from all walks of life came together in love to do what they could to alleviate the devastating impact of world hunger. Working in teams of eight to ten, in two-hour shifts, during the week-long event in September, 12,000 volunteers packaged more than 4,000,000 meals to be delivered to starving people around the world. Individuals, businesses, schools, churches, and various civic organizations rallied behind the effort and showed the nation and the world what Iowans who truly care can accomplish.

What if this year, you helped?

Drake University athletes package the first of 3 million meals.

DES MOINES, Ia.—August 26, 2008.

The interior of Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines holds 1-1/2 football fields. September 1-9 this will be the site of Meals from the Heartland: a massive food drive to restock Iowa food banks and a huge assembly line to package 3 million meals for the world’s hungry.

Last week, members of the Drake University football, men’s and women’s soccer, and volleyball teams raced to see who

could package the most meals to kick off Meals from the Heartland. The Drake Athletic Office staff was also part of the fun “throwdown” competition. The Freshmen Men’s Soccer Team packaged the most meals and walked away with a first-place trophy, and a new sense of the impact Iowans can make to fight world hunger.

Drake University teams packaged a total of 19, 440 meals. Athletic Director Sandy Hatfield Clubb was moved by the experience. “It became very powerful when I looked at a bag of food I just sealed and realized that bag will feed a family of six.” She added, “I am bringing my family to Hy-Vee Hall in September to package more meals.”

Volunteers are needed to package the meals at Meals from the Heartland. All ages (including school age children) are encouraged to participate.

Businesses, schools and volunteer groups can make Meals from the Heartland a group activity by signing up teams to assemble the meal packets.

Online donations to Meals from the Heartland are now being accepted. All donations will provide additional ingredients and packaging supplies. Every 25-cent donation will provide the means to package one more meal for someone who is hungry.

Iowans Helping Iowans…
Event volunteers are also encouraged to bring non-perishable food items or school supplies for our fellow Iowans in need.

Embrace Iowa and the Food Bank of Iowa have created lists of school supplies and food that are needed most. The lists can be found on the Iowans Helping Iowans page.

Click here to volunteer at the event, or to make a donation, please visit our donation page.

Meals from the Heartland: Why are we doing this?

WEST DES MOINES, Ia.— August 6, 2008.

The interior of Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines holds 1-1/2 football fields. In September this will be the site of Meals from the Heartland: a massive food drive to restock Iowa food banks and a huge assembly line to package 3 million meals for the world’s hungry.

So why put the effort into such a huge project to benefit people you will probably never meet? Ask any Meals from the

Heartland organizer and they will tell you the answer is simple: because there are hungry people in our world.

Jane Patton regularly volunteers to package food for Kids Against Hunger. “As a parent…you don’t realize what it would be like to not be able to feed your children.” Speaking to the need for food in other countries, she adds, “They need food, they deserve food.”

Thousands more volunteers are needed to package the meals at Meals from the Heartland. All ages (including school-age children) are encouraged to participate. Patton’s 6 year-old volunteers, along with her parents and 93 year-old grandmother. “There aren’t too many opportunities where you can serve as an entire family,” she says.

Corporations, schools and volunteer groups can make Meals from the Heartland a group activity by signing up teams to assemble the meal packets. Volunteers planning to spend the night in Des Moines may call Country Inn & Suites (515-457-3606), Embassy Suites Des Moines on the River (515-244-1700), Renaissance Savery Hotel (800-514-4706) Quality Inn & Suites – Events Center (515-282-5251) for a Meals from the Heartland group discount.

Event volunteers are also encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to be distributed to  Iowa food banks for our fellow Iowans in need.

Meals from the Heartland will demonstrate that Iowans are better together. Working side by side, our state can make a global impact. Patton understands the power of Iowans coming together for a common goal. “If everybody would just step into the game, that’s what it will take.”

MealsFromTheHeartland.org
Updated with New Features
•    Facts about world hunger.
•    Video featuring Max Holmes, founder of Kids Against Hunger Des Moines.
•    Directions and parking information for Hy-Vee Hall.
•    Downloadable Meals from the Heartland brochure.
•    List of businesses supporting Meals from the Heartland.

Click here to volunteer at the event, or to make a donation, please visit our donation page.

Meals from the Heartland: Feeding Iowa…Feeding the World.

WEST DES MOINES, Ia.— July 30, 2008.

Last night plans were announced for a large-scale event that will bring Iowans together to fight hunger.

Meals from the Heartland will take place September 1-9 at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines, Iowa. The 9-day event will have two components: a massive food drive to restock Iowa food pantries and a huge assembly line to package 3 million meals for the world’s hungry.

From Ackley to Zwingle, Iowans will come together in early September to care for our neighbors in need and reach out to hungry people around the world.

The easily  prepared, readily transportable meals will be packaged by teams of eight to ten people in two-hour shifts. The

meals are formulated to provide a rich source of easily digestible  nutrients essential for survival. These life-sustaining packages will be delivered to starving and malnourished children in Belize, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica and Nicaragua.

12,000 volunteers are needed to accomplish the goal of three million meals packaged in one week. All ages (including school-age children) are encouraged to participate. Packaging the meals is as easy as scoop, pour and repeat!

Corporations, schools and volunteer groups can make Meals from the Heartland a group activity by signing up teams of 10 volunteers to assemble the meal packets.

Event volunteers are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to be distributed to The Iowa Food Bank for our fellow Iowans in need.

Meals from the Heartland will demonstrate that Iowans are better together. Working side by side, our state can make a global impact.

Click here to volunteer at the event, or to make a donation, please visit our donation page.