Packing food for starving children a family affair

In many parts of the world food is in very short supply, and it has been reported that 18,000 children die each day from starvation or starvation related cases.

Jim Russell's involvement with Feed My Starving Children began almost three years ago while he was visiting his daughter and her family in St. Paul, Minn.

His 15-year-old grandson told him that he was volunteering to pack food for needy children as a public service project, and invited him to go along. Russell and his grandson helped to pack 5,000 meals and Jim became totally hooked on the importance of becoming a part of this vital relief organization. He "talks-up" the program whenever an opportunity presents itself at his church, and during his other volunteer activities, in an effort to recruit volunteers to help with the packing at mobile packing events that are held at local churches, synagogues, schools and corporations, and at the permanent site in Aurora.

"I love children, and I feel this is a worthy cause," Russell said. "Packing food for Feed My Starving Children is something that the whole family can get involved in, and is a way of teaching the children by example that it is important to help people in need."

Feed My Starving Children was founded in 1987, and is a nonprofit Christian organization with headquarters in Brooklyn Park, Minn. Their mission is "Feeding God's Starving Children Hungry in Body and Spirit." Volunteers of all ages pack highly nutritious meals for severely malnourished children that are distributed in more than 50 countries around the world. The meals consist of rice, textured soy protein, dehydrated vegetables, 20 vitamins and minerals with a vegetarian chicken flavoring, and each meal has all the nutrients a starving child needs for an entire day.

The meals cost 17 cents each, and the ingredients are purchased entirely through donations. The meals are hand packaged and sealed in bags by volunteers who work in teams to measure and weigh the ingredients, and then packed into boxes for shipping. Feed My Starving Children partners with missionaries in over 50 countries who help assure that meals are given to children who need them the most, and are distributed in schools, orphanages, refugee camps, and relief centers in Haiti, Tanzania, Indonesia, Sudan, Cambodia, Peru, Swaziland, the Philippines, and dozens of other countries.

Permanent packing locations are located in Brooklyn Park, Eagan, and Chanhassen, Minn.; a new location is open in Aurora, and plans are underway to open a site in Rolling Meadows by the end of 2008.

Last year, 40 million meals were shipped and their goal is to ship 55 million during 2008. Because all the packaging of the food is done by volunteers, 95 percent of all donations received during 2007-08 went directly to the feeding program.

Russell is very active at St. Raymond's Catholic Church in Mount Prospect, where he serves as a minister of care and takes communion to the homebound, and as a bereavement minister of care, which involves assisting families to plan funerals and assisting to conduct funerals. He also volunteers as a PADS (homeless shelter) volunteer.

Russell is semiretired, but continues to be involved in the employment industry where he assisted executives to find suitable employment for 10 years. He also conducted seminars in 18 cities on improving sales and reading skills and leading a balanced life. His hobbies include golf, music and travel, but his favorite activity is spending time with his family and his wife, Jean.

The Russell's reside in Arlington Heights, and they have been married for 55 years. Their family includes seven children (five girls and two boys), 25 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Jean is also involved in various community and church activities, and has volunteered at The Volunteer Center of Northwest Suburban Chicago for many years.

To learn more about Feed My Starving Children contact Bea Pedersen, Chicago area development director, at (847) 497-3278, or visit www.fmsc.org.

For information on how you can become involved in helping others by performing meaningful volunteer work in your community, contact The Volunteer Center of Northwest Suburban Chicago (all ages) at (847) 228-1320; or the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (mature adults age 55 or better) at (847) 228-1006 or visit www.volunterinfo.net.