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.

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.

Please click on the image above to download a full-resolution PDF.

Meals from the Heartland volunteers and area churches are joining together on Saturday, August 28 at 7 p.m. to offer inter-denominational worship service. Join us as various leaders of community churches pray for hungry children and families around the world. The service will feature special performances and guests.

Where:

Lutheran Church of Hope
925 Jordan Creek Parkway, West Des Moines

When:

Saturday, August 28, 2010 – 7 p.m.

Details:

Prayers & Messages by
Fr. Robert Hoefler, St. Francis of Assisi
Pastor Michael Hurst, Elim Christian Fellowship
Pastor Mike Housholder, Lutheran Church of Hope

Music & Dance by
Dance-A-Cross, Heartland Youth Chorus, John Cheatem, Jason Moore, Eileen O’Brien-Denner, Perry Ross

Special Guests
Mark Aeilts, Meals from the Heartland; Dr. Jim Blessman, Blessman Ministries/S.Africa; Larry Madole, Promise for Haiti Hospital; Eric Hanson, KCCI-TV

No cost to attend. Open to all ages.

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.”

Thank you for your help over Labor Day weekend in volunteering for Meals from the Heartland! What an awesome experience for the MftH Team, and we hope for you, too!

Although Meals from the Heartland may be a once-a-year humanitarian effort, the fight against hunger goes on every day and the planning for next year has already started. We hope you won’t mind if we send an occasional email (once or so a month) to share stories of the delivery of the food you helped package, dates and plans for next year, and other information.

Since Meals from the Heartland, we have received many emails and questions ranging from meal count to lost & found, and wanted to provide this email to help answer some of the most frequently asked…

1)  What was the final Meals from the Heartland meal count?

You helped us reach 4,019,094 meals packaged!

2)  When will Meals from the Heartland take place next year?

Dates for next year will depend upon space available. We are extremely blessed to have Hy-Vee Hall donated for Meals from the Heartland. Although we hope next year’s dates are approximately the same as this year, we will communicate next year’s date via email and post it on the Meals from the Heartland website once dates are set.

3)  Can I designate my United Way gift to Meals from the Heartland?

Yes, Meals from the Heartland is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that meets the criteria of the United Way to receive designated contributions. You may designate all or part of your United Way contribution to MftH… the information that you may need is as follows:

Organization name: Meals from the Heartland

Address: PO Box 71606, Clive, IA 50325

Employer ID #: 26-3443290

 Should you have questions or need help, please contact MftH at contributions@mealsfromtheheartland.org

4)  How can I become more involved with Meals from the Heartland?

Please send an email to volunteer@mealsfromtheheartland.org and express your interest.

Also, we will be sending separately a brief survey that we hope you will consider completing. We are very interested in your feedback and ideas on how we can make this even more successful next year.

5)  Have the meals been shipped and received that were packaged at Meals from the Heartland?

Most of the 14 containers of food you helped package have been shipped and are on their way (one container holds approximately 285,000 meals)! One or more full containers of food are going to: Blessman Ministries, South Africa; Cornerstone of Hope, Nigeria; Food for the Poor, Haiti; Lifeline Christian Ministries, Jamaica; and Project Elijah, Israel. Smaller quantities are being distributed to other locations and for domestic use. We will include the status of delivery of the food in future newsletters or updates, as well as reporting to you the impact the food is making.

6)  How can I access the photo(s) taken of my team by Iowa Telecom?

Please go to http://photoop.iowatelecom.net/meals09/ to access photos taken by Iowa Telecom.

7)  Did you raise all of the money need ed for 2009?

Thanks to your support, we raised all of the funding necessary to fully fund the packaging of 4 million meals. All that is needed is funding for the distribution costs for only two of the fourteen containers… one scheduled for Nigeria and the other to South Africa. Additional contributions will be sought to cover these expenses for Cornerstone of Hope Orphanage in Nigeria and Blessman Ministries in South Africa.

8)  How may I order additional MftH T-shirts & Gear?

 You have two options to order additional MftH t-shirts & gear:

 Contact Fine Designs Imprinted Sportswear, Inc.

Office: 515.986.1848 or Email: mjanssen@finedesignsinc.com

If you would like to purchase one of the 2009 orange volunteer shirts, the cost is $12.50 each (including shipping), and may be purchased by sending a check to:
Meals from the Heartland, PO Box 71606, Clive, IA 50325. Please be sure to include your mailing address, email and t-shirt size(s), and we will ship directly to you.

9)  Was there anything that was turned into “Lost & Found”?

Among the items turned in to Lost & Found include: three pairs of sunglasses, a child’s shoe, and a white polo shirt with an “Admiral” logo embroidered. If you are the owner, or know who the owner might be of any of these items, please contact us at: lost&found@mealsfromtheheartland.org

 Again, on behalf of the Meals from the Heartland Team, we want to thank you for your prayers, volunteer service, and financial gifts that made it possible to help so many impoverished people in the world. We do also hope that you will consider becoming involved again next year.

Blessings,

The Meals from the Heartland Team

“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.” Isaiah 58:10

Mailing Address:

Meals from the Heartland P.O. Box 71606

Clive, IA 50325

US

 Contact: contact@MealsFromTheHeartland.org

Telephone Number: 877-457-6384