Ways You Can Provide “Help for Haiti”

It’s been more than two weeks since devastating earthquakes hit Haiti. From the beginning, people everywhere began donating their time, money and resources to help toward the recovery. However, knowing where we started over a year ago, earthquake recovery is just the beginning. The people of Haiti still need our help today, tomorrow and in the future.

Meals from the Heartland has committed to help feed the poor any way we can, but we need your help. Please consider donating to Meals from the Heartland or another trusted organization. Below are some ways you can help make a difference with Meals from the Heartland.

* On February 5, “Hearts for Haiti,” a Valentine’s Day-themed benefit, will be held to raise money for Haiti earthquake victims. The event’s organizer, Olivia Ahlrichs, will donate all proceeds from the event to Meals from the Heartland. This money will go toward purchasing the supplies for packaging meals for Haiti. The benefit begins at 6 p.m. at the Copper Creek Golf Course Clubhouse, in Pleasant Hill.

“Hearts for Haiti” will feature a silent auction, light hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar, as well as entertainment by Mike Butterworth, lead singer for the Iowa-based band The Nadas, and Bonne Finken, fellow singer/songwriter. Valentine’s Day gifts in the form of chocolate covered strawberries, truffles and children’s tutu’s will be available for purchase and can be delivered to recipients on Valentine’s Day weekend. Tickets for “Hearts for Haiti” will be sold for $15 at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. You can also go here for more information.

* During the week of February 22, we will be partnering with Lutheran Church of Hope to hold a special Haiti food packaging event. While we are still in the process of organizing the event and will soon be asking for volunteers, please remember we can only package as much food as we have funding for, so donate today!

REMEMBER: Nearly $.95 of every $1 donated to Meals from the Heartland is applied directly to our mission. That $.95 is specifically connected to purchasing raw materials, assembling those materials into ready to eat food packages, and delivering those meals directly to those in need.

You can donate toward this cause here. We will package as many meals as we have funding for du

ring the event and all meals will immediately be shipped to Haiti.

Please consider donating your time and/or money to any of the above causes. The people of Haiti need our help now more than ever.

Thank you & God bless!

Help Provided By Iowa Meals…

We know that everyone is seeing and hearing heartbreaking stories through national media. Following are two stories of how the earthquake has impacted groups we support, and how Meals from the Heartland meals have been used to feed those in need.

Joy In Hope:

Following is an email received on Saturday night from a missionary with Joy In Hope, a non-profit organization dedicated solely to working in Haiti, that received some of the food we packaged last fall.

“My name is Leann Pye and I am a missionary living in Jacmel, Haiti.  In December we were given about 100 boxes of food from your organization.  We were planning on using it towards VBS and a soccer tournament we had planned. However, as you know, an earthquake devastated many parts of Haiti.  Jacmel is one town that has been hit hard. The road from Jacmel to Port-au-Prince is impassible with cars, tap-taps, and trucks. There are no supplies coming in and we don’t know when the road will be fixed. We have been able to feed hundreds of people daily since the earthquake because of your food. I can’t express my gratitude enough.  May God bless you and your ministry.”

In a separate email that followed, Leann wrote:

“Please communicate to your supporters that Jacmel is one area that has been greatly affected by your food. We don’t know where we would be without it. Thank you and God Bless!”

Food for the Poor:

Food for Poor, based in Miami, is one of the groups we partner with to place meals throughout the world. Leann Chong, a member of their staff that we have been working with, was in Haiti when the earthquake hit. She was trapped in her hotel for 17 hours before being rescued, but was able to return to Florida on Monday (with leg and other minor injuries).  The Food for the Poor warehouse and feeding center in Haiti was damaged, but reopened Monday and was able to serve over 20,000 meals on its first day. Due to damage of Haiti’s port, Food for the Poor is currently directing shipments to the Dominic Republic, and is transporting food to Haiti by land.

Please check back often for additional stories of how Meals from the Heartland’s efforts are helping!

Making a Difference in Haiti

Thanks to you, Meals from the Heartland is making a difference in the lives of many people currently struggling in Haiti. More than two million meals were shipped to Haiti after our fall packaging event, and they are feeding people every day. I hope that you will take a minute to read the stories in the following posts to see how meals packaged by Iowans are being used to feed starving Haitians.

We are in the process of organizing a special Haiti food packaging event to be held in February. Funds are currently being raised so we can order ingredients and supplies to package and ship as much food as possible. We’ve received overwhelming response from people hoping to package meals – but please remember the amount of meals we can package depends entirely on how much money we raise to purchase ingredients. To put it into perspective: a $50 contribution will provide 300 meals, or enough food for 10 children for one month!

We will soon begin asking volunteers to sign up for packaging planned to start on February 22 at Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, and possibly other locations. Please continue to monitor our Web site for further details. If you were a team lead last fall, we may not have all of your team members’ email addresses. Please feel free to forward this post on to your teammates who helped package or friends and family to help us spread the word.

God Bless!
The Meals from the Heartland Team

Help For Haiti – Jan. 13, 2010

Mark Aeilts, the Meals from the Heartland board chair, talks about how meals packaged in 2009 will help with the Haitian earthquake recovery efforts. (click link below to listen)

Mark Aeilts Talking About Haiti on Lite 107.1

We’d like the thank Lite 107.1 for the time and letting us use this segment on our Web site.

If you would like to help Meals from the Heartland and Lutheran Church of Hope with “Help for Haiti,” make sure you click here for more information.

Please check back for additional details.

Around The Globe

Meals from the Heartland provides food to hungry around the world. From Iowa to South Africa, our mission is to end world hunger.  Please pray, give and serve as Meals from the Heartland becomes the hunger fighting capitol of the world.

A Thank You For Our 2009 Volunteers

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

Helping Those in Need

Our hearts are hurting for the hungry – both at home and around the world. We provide opportunities to package food all year long. We ask you to please volunteer, donate and pray!

Joining Together

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 We Do?

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

Volunteer Efforts

Each year meals packaged by thousands of volunteers are sent to the world’s most starving countries.

« Previous Page — Next Page »