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(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Open Door Christian School hosted its packaging day for the Feed the Need program which provides 10,000 meals to those in need across the globe. This year, the program provided meals for families in Bangladesh. -
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Students of Open Door Christian School helped to package 40 boxes of meals Wednesday, March 25 that will provide 10,000 meals for families in Bangladesh. The Feed the Need program is in its fifth year at ODCS and includes students of all grade levels at the school. -
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) An Open Door Christian School student seals a bag of food that was packaged and placed in one of 40 boxes that will be given to families in Bangladesh.
For a fifth year, students and volunteers at Open Door Christian School packaged meals through their Feed the Need program which will supply 10,000 meals for families in Bangladesh.
The program is run in conjunction with the Feed the Hunger program which provides meals to at-risk children and others in need and has packed over 53 million meals since its founding in 1968.
ODCS held its packing day Wednesday, March 26, with students and volunteers set up at stations to begin packaging meals.
“We are packaging 10,000 non-perishable meals for families in Bangladesh, and we will do that in one day,” Principal Cristi Logan said. “This is a service opportunity for us, but it's also a fundraiser. …We have sent food for the past two years (to) Bangladesh.”
The ingredients included in each sealed bag are rice, a protein, a powder with vitamins and nutrients and dehydrated vegetables. Feed the Hunger provides measuring scoops and directions.
“It has to be weighed and if it's not the right weight, they have to either take some product out or add some more rice into where it's the exact right weight,” Logan said.
The students rang a bell every time a box was filled, with a total of 40 boxes filled Wednesday, with 40 bags of food per box.
“Feed the Need will come and pick up all the meals today at the end of the day and they will arrange to have it shipped to families in the country that we chose,” Logan said.
The principal said she loves the excitement the students involved in the program have to serve others.
“They look forward to this every year,” Logan said. “They get to go from station to station. They're here for about 30-45 minutes, and they get to rotate so they're not doing the same thing the whole time.”
All grade levels at the school participate in the program each year and follow all safety standards.
“We have to follow health standards where they have to have hair nets, they have to have clean hands, they have to wear gloves and then, of course, we, our adult volunteers, are trained to do it properly,” Logan said.
The school runs a fundraiser for the program each year to provide the meals.
“It's all online and families sign up to participate and then they might make a video that they put on social media asking for donations to pay for the meals,” Logan said. “...We do have some cash donations that come in, but mostly it's giving online.”
At the end of the packing day, the ODCS students gathered to take a group photo and see the boxes stacked up and how their efforts will make a difference for families across the globe.
