LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Volunteers from across the country are working towards one common goal meeting food insecurity and it all takes place at Lifeline Christian Mission.
Three weeks, three hundred thousand meals, it’s called the Million Meal Pack. Lifeline Christian Mission’s goal is to pack one million meals between their four locations.
What You Need To Know
- Lifeline Christian Mission is participating in the Million Meal Pack
- The Louisville location hopes to pack 300,000 meals by May 15
- Louisville Lifeline Christian Mission currently has 168,480 meals packed
For the Louisville location, that means packing 300,000 meals. Volunteers from churches, businesses and organizations around the community have signed up to help with the project.
“Hopefully lives will be sparked on mission not only in their community but around the world too,” Keri Owens, director of Lifeline Chrisitian Mission (Louisville) said.
Owens said she's impressed with how fast the volunteers have been.
“150 meals in about 50 minutes a person so there are 6 meals in this bag so it feeds a family so when they pack a box, there's 36 bags in a box so its 216 meals when they make a box,” Owens said.
After hearing from their partner, Life in Abundance, that there was a need in Kajiado, Kenya, the Louisville location decided to take action. With the help from social media, Lifeline was able to spread the word and have had over 600 volunteers since their launch date on April 24. The shelf-stable meals will go to families in Kenya and Haiti.
“Just letting them know that they were a small part of a bigger picture and just them coming out and helping us reach our goal because we can't send this container until it's full, so we want to make sure it's full and we need 300,000 meals to go in it,” Owens said.
Lifeline doesn’t just serve globally, they also help families struggling with hunger in the Commonwealth. Richard Weese, the lead student pastor at Southeast Christian Church’s Crestwood Campus, said this gives his students an opportunity to understand how simple serving can be.
“Things like this kind of help remind us that we can do something as simple as coming here and packing a meal and having a lot of fun but it goes to do something so important for so many people across the world.”
For volunteers, Kelsey McHenry and Meredith Baxter who have traveled to Uganda and Kenya, they’ve seen first-hand what food insecurity looks like.
“We've both seen the hurt that people have there when it comes to food insecurity and how even though they do have food insecurity they are filled with joy so to give people that are already filled with joy, food to fill their bellies, it fills us with joy,” Baxter said.
Why they decided to volunteer with this project.
“To come in and pack the actual meals and think about the people who are going to be handed meals in other countries is so crucial, just a personal contact and understanding that it’s not just the person on the TV, it's actually a real person who is suffering out there,” McHenry said.
Lifeline Christian Mission has currently packed 168,480 meals – on May 12, they packed 19,244 meals alone.
The Million Meal Pack project will end on May 15 but Lifeline Christian Mission (Louisville) will still pack meals on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Director Keri Owens hopes businesses and organizations will use Lifeline to come in to help with team building while still serving their communities. More information on how you can sign up and volunteer can be found here and here.