Another way to help starving kids

More suburban volunteers soon will have the opportunity to help feed starving kids around the world.

Later this month, Feed My Starving Children -- a Minnesota-based charity devoted to eradicating global childhood hunger -- is planning to open a permanent branch in Aurora.

Meanwhile, there is talk of opening another branch in Arlington Heights or Schaumburg. If everything goes as planned, that facility would open in December.

The Aurora location, which is slated to open April 14 at 555 Exchange Court, will replace a temporary branch in Naperville.

Feed My Starving Children has three branches in Minnesota. Each facility has about 50,000 volunteers producing more than 10 million meals each year.

The concept is simple.

Volunteers pack nutritious, scientifically produced foods into packages. The meals then are given to missionaries and humanitarian organizations in 58 countries around the world. Each meal costs about 15 cents.

"We have really seen people becoming attached to our mission and continuously coming back and bringing the word to other people," said Heidi Seyer, marketing director for the organization.

A Chicago-area site seemed like the next step, leaders said.

Since early 2007, the group's been conducting mobile packing events at various area churches to increase awareness about the organization. As a result, the organization got volunteers involved before opening the permanent site.

"This is a large metropolitan area," Chicago Director of Development Bea Pederson said. "It has a potential prospect base for volunteers because it has a number of large churches."

The Aurora branch can hold 90 volunteers at one time and is one of the largest sites the organization's ever opened.

"The goal of this site is to pack over 8 million meals in the coming year," Pederson said.

"That's going to feed a lot of kids," she added. "And each meal has all the nutrients one child needs in one cup of food for an entire day."

While the Aurora branch will become operational this month, the official grand opening is planned for 1 to 4 p.m. May 18.

The event will include a variety of educational and entertainment stations for people to visit and learn about Feed My Starving Children. Area mayors also are expected to attend the ceremony.