Decorah volunteers package 25,056 meals Saturday

Photo courtesy of Greg Eide

In the culmination of a year-long project, some 125 Decorah area volunteers on Saturday packaged 25,056 rice based meals for the charity "Feed My Starving Children."

The meals will be sent overseas to a location where hunger relief is needed most.  The food packed in Decorah on Saturday is enough to feed 69 kids for an entire year.

Decorah resident Gabriel Eide started the local chapter of Feed My Starving Children after visiting a similar program in Chanhassen, Minnesota a year and a half ago.  "It was a wonderful experience," he says of his visit to one of the permanent FMSC sites.

When Gabriel returned to Decorah, he begin a campaign that expanded to include a lot of organizations--from churches to high school groups to Luther college organizations.  That led to fundraising events such as the Luren Singers' spring concert, a St. Benedict's School student council fundraiser, events sponsored by the Decorah High School Community Club and National Honor Society, a fundraiser by the Decorah Covenant Church, a lemonade stand, Luther APO and baccalaureate offerings and a fundraiser at Decorah Lutheran Church.

On Saturday a mobile packing unit came to the Decorah Middle School, where the volunteers pitched in.  Gabriel Eide says that's the difference between Feed My Starving Children and other hunger relief groups--for FMSC, volunteers physically pack food themselves.

Each individual meal serving costs just 24 cents, with the cost being paid by the local chapter.  The meals are then shipped to one of 69 foreign countries, with the shipping costs being paid by the country receiving the food.

The Decorah volunteers will learn in another week or two where their food is being delivered.

For more about Feed My Starving Children, visit http://www.fmsc.org/page.aspx?pid=453

Photo by decorahnews.com's Paul Scott

Volunteers sit in a training session Saturday

Photo courtesy of Greg Eide

Photo courtesy of Greg Eide