Things went really well for the Feed My Starving Children Warsaw MobilePack Wednesday and Thursday, according to organizers.
Daniel Adams, FMSC assistant mobile manufacturing manager, said, “It’s been so smooth. What I love about it is that it feels like we were never gone. I know there’s less people, but it doesn’t feel like anything’s changed, which is really exciting for us.”
During the next-to-last meal-packing session Thursday at Lincoln Elementary School, Megan Stone, Warsaw MobilePack chair of the steering committee, said it was going “Great! We’re on target. We have a goal of 272,000 meals. We had hoped to bring in 1,300 volunteers. We’ve had a great turnout. A lot of different businesses, church groups, clubs, families. We’ve had children of all ages, adults. We’ve had sports teams that have come and participated. So it’s been a really positive experience. A lot of good energy. Everyone’s very excited for it to be back and to have the opportunity to participate.”
In the first four years (2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018) of the Warsaw MobilePack, more than 4.2 million meals were packed – enough to feed almost 12,000 kids for a year. All FMSC operations were temporary shut down in 2020, including the Warsaw MobilePack scheduled for October, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. FMSC is relaunching its community MobilePack events, with Warsaw’s event this week being its largest to date.
On this year’s Warsaw MobilePack, Adams said, “Just the fact that we’re here and, it’s not a million meals but it’s over 200,000, that’s something to celebrate. It’s just cool to be a part of that. Cool to see the relaunch. The biggest relaunch since we’ve relaunched. It’s like we never left. I love it.”
Devin Shkapich, FMSC volunteer program facilitator, said she had her first event two weeks ago in Heartland, Wis., since the close of the community MobilePacks because of the pandemic. There were things that had to be relearned and things that were new to keep everyone safe.
“The first event was great. I think it went really well and helped us prepare for this event because it wasn’t as large. And this one really surprised us in how well everyone worked together to still maintain social distance and to be clean. We have a lot more cleaning and sanitizing procedures than we did before, which I think is a good thing,” Shkapich said. “It’s just been almost like a rebirth of MobilePack. And even at our permanent sites, I had the opportunity to work at our warehouse in Mesa, Ariz., and it was different for sure, but I think there’s just a new attitude and spirit to getting back into the swing of things despite all the additional checklist that we have to go through.”
She said Warsaw MobilePack was going great and the host team, including Stone, “have been so incredible we couldn’t do it without them.”
FMSC is a Christian nonprofit dedicated to seeing every child whole in body and spirit. FMSC works with food distribution partners in over 70 countries that stay with communities for the long haul, empowering them to move from relief to development. FMSC meals – containing vitamins, veggies, soy and rice – are developed by food science and nutrition professionals to supplement nutritional needs and reduce problems with malnutrition.
The hope, Stone said, is that the Warsaw MobilePack can take place again in October 2022.
“That would be our goal. Of course, that is all in accordance with what FMSC is able to contract and the guidelines they are able to implement. But that is our steering team’s hope and we know that the desire is here for our community to be involved in this. We know the passion behind our community members and how much they have loved and supported FMSC and desire for it to continue,” she said.
Shkapich said the goal for FMSC is to continue to safely grow the size of the MobilePacks.
“We were in Warsaw two years ago doing a million packs. We want to get back to that and go even further than a million. So, that is definitely the goal and the only way for us to get to that point is to have events like we are having right now,” Shkapich said. “We owe a lot of our growth to Warsaw and the things we are learning.”
Before the pandemic, about 1 in 9 kids went hungry every single day. Now that the pandemic has hit, and FMSC couldn’t provide the meals to the kids or even have the funds to give to their partners, Shkapich said she was “sure that number is much, much higher. It’s definitely been hard on our partners and hard on the kids, and the kids have taken the hit the most unfortunately.”
“The request for food over the past year has gone up from our partners that we work with in the countries. The requests have gone through the roof since COVID started, so it’s definitely good we were able to come back and get these events going again,” said Adams.
The biggest challenge is always the fundraising, Stone said. It costs about 24 cents per meal, and the community pays for the meals and provides the volunteer support to pack the meals. Stone said if their goal is a million meals, about $250,000 needs to be raised, “which isn’t easy. It comes with corporate sponsorship. The generosity of many businesses. Additional grants. And an abundant number of $100 donations or $500 donations, even $88 donations, because every donation adds up. It makes a difference.”
She said Lincoln Elementary was one of the largest donors because they, as a school, raised over $6,000 each event. “And that was raised by quarters,” she said.
Shkapich said FMSC wants to meet and exceed its goals, but “also we want to highlight, even more than we did before, just how the community has come together in fundraising to provide more meals. So even if we aren’t able to pack as many meals as we fundraise for, that still provides us with the potential of packing more meals and feeding more kids. So we’re grateful for that, that Warsaw is providing meals regardless.”
If plans for a WarsawMobilePack in October 2022 go forward, Stone said they would sign the contract with FMSC this October and then they would have a year to plan, implement and fundraise for it. The goal is for it to take place at the Tiger Recreational Activity Center at Warsaw Community High School to accommodate 5,000 volunteers, depending on what the FMSC guidelines are at that time.
“We’re just being very flexible with that, and, again, just happy and excited for the opportunity to serve world hunger because every meal impacts a child and that makes a difference in fighting world hunger,” Stone said.
She said people can keep an eye out for more information on the website at warsawmobilepack.com. It is active so people can donate now toward the next event. Any overage from this week’s event will go toward the next one.
Anyone who would like to be more involved on the steering committee can email Hi5stones@comcast.net.
“It’s the experience, I think, that really changes the hearts of people,” Stone said.
Christine Slabaugh volunteered with her two sons, Aiden and Micah, on Thursday. They had never volunteered for FMSC before.
“I just think it’s great knowing this is going to starving children,” Christine said, adding that it’s great to help other people and “I would do it again.”
