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.

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?

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.

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/ .

WHO Radio’s Van and Bonnie show broadcast live from Lutheran Church of Hope during the 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. shift while volunteers packaged the meals containing rice, vitamins, soy protein and dried vegetables.

More than 5,900 volunteers have registered to package meals throughout the week working toward our goal of packaging 2 million meals for Haitians. Originally, we were hoping to raise enough in donations to fund 300,000 meals. In just five weeks, individuals, churches, schools and businesses have raised enough funds to purchase the raw ingredients for volunteers to package as many as 2 million meals!

If you are still interested in volunteering, there are still open spots for host volunteers. Click here to learn more about host volunteering and available shifts.

We cannot thank you enough for all of your encouragement and support as we work to feed the hungry! God bless!

Please consider giving to Meals from the Heartland through your donations of money or time. Join us as we come together to end world hunger.

What can you do…to help end world hunger? Meals from the Heartland provides many ways to serve – volunteer, donate, PRAY!