Feed the Need event invites volunteers of all ages to pack meals March 8-9

Volunteer events that welcome the whole family — ages 5 to 95 — can be hard to find, but the Feed the Need Mobilepack, happening March 8-9 at Benedictine University in Lisle, offers just such an opportunity.

Feed the Need packs specially formulated meals (called MannaPack) for Feed My Starving Children, a Minnesota-based Christian organization that works with global partners to provide life-sustaining meals to children and families experiencing hunger worldwide.

Volunteers ages 5 or up are welcome to participate in a two-hour packing shift at the two-day event. Younger participants can help scoop vitamins, vegetables, soy or rice into FMSC’s MannaPack meal bags; older volunteers can heat-seal the bags or go from packing station to packing station refilling ingredients and removing boxes once they’re filled.

Volunteers who need a seated role can help make labels.

“We have a lot of difficulty finding an activity for our whole family, and Feed the Need has been one of those things that we can do,” says Feed the Need volunteer Kelly Okel.

Okel is a member of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Naperville, one of the churches that co-founded the event in 2012.

“It’s something that no matter what your ability level is, you still can help and support — you’re making a difference.”

Each meal costs less than 30 cents to produce, and despite logistical hurdles in regions served by FMSC, 99% of meals shipped make it to their intended recipients.

Feed the Need’s goal this year, as in 2024, is to pack more than 800,000 meals for children facing hunger worldwide and to raise donations to cover the costs of the meals.

More than a dozen local faith organizations and community groups, including co-founders Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, will be represented at Feed the Need 2025, with thousands of volunteers expected to pour into Benedictine’s Dan and Ada Rice Center March 8-9.

At last year’s event, more than 4,000 volunteers assembled enough MannaPack bags to provide 2,190 children in countries such as Zambia, El Salvador and Guatemala a nutritious meal each day for a year.

Organizers note that Feed The Need Illinois is the largest volunteer coalition of religious, education, civic, corporate and community groups in the Kane-DuPage-Will County area. For more information or to sign up for the event, visit feedtheneedillinois.org.