WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES: VOLUNTEERS PACKAGE 200,000 MEALS FOR WEST AFRICAN FAMILIES IN NEED

Philadelphia >> Feeding the hungry never looked so efficient.

As part of the ongoing World Meeting of Families, hundreds of volunteers, including over 200 students from Archdiocese of Philadelphia high schools, packaged more than 200,000 meals for West African families in need Wednesday. The service project benefitted the Helping Hands initiative, a partnership with Catholic Relief Services and Stop Hunger Now.

“It’s an amazing event,” said Stephanie Bosse, program coordinator for Catholic Relief Services Helping Hands. “It’s amazing to be a part of the day of service during the World Meeting of Families, to see families from all over the world come together.”

Groups of five, each one wearing a hair net and gloves, worked on an assembly line. They funnelled vitamin packets, cups of soy, dehydrated vegetables and rice into plastic bags that were then boxed up. Those boxes will soon be shipped to Burkina Faso, the third poorest country in the world, to feed starving people in that region, Bosse said. Each sound of a gong signified that 3,000 meals had been packaged, followed by a roar of applause from the volunteers. About 40 minutes into the project, over 18,000 meals had already been packaged.

Click here to read more.