Volunteers pack food boxes at Elk Grove Salvation Army

Volunteers Monday started packing the first of 8,000 holiday meal boxes at the Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services facility in Elk Grove Village.

On a fast-paced assembly line — where a large box may spend only three minutes being packed with 17 pounds of instant mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, cans of corn and green beans, cornbread and gravy mix and other traditional holiday fare — the work was secondary to the feeling of charity for the packers.

“It gives me a peaceful mind,” said Samuel Kuruvilla of Gages Lake. “It feels good to help.”

He was the first stop on the assembly line, grabbing empty boxes stacked taller than anyone in the room and sliding them on rollers to the next of 20 volunteers who each quickly added canned and boxed food before pushing the box to the next volunteer.

Monday, they came from the National Women in Roofing — a volunteer-driven organization that supports and advances the careers of female roofing professionals — and Raincoat Roofing Services, a Broadview-based commercial and residential buildings roofer.

Volunteers will come from different local businesses and groups through Thursday. The boxes are loaded onto trucks and delivered to area Salvation Army locations where they will be distributed to families in need, along with a frozen turkey and a box of toys.

“It makes you feel good to do something for people for the holidays,” said Brittany Wylke of Bartlett.

She works for a roofing tools supply company and is a member of National Women in Roofing. Monday, her job was to add stickers to each box as it came off the line.

“It’s so fast,” she said of the movement of the assembly line. “We’ve made a game out of getting the stickers on the boxes in the middle.”

Up to 2,000 boxes are packed each of the four days this week. All 8,000 will be delivered to suburban families by Dec. 21.