Packing hope: Volunteers prepare 500,000 meals for hungry kids

Hundreds of volunteers packed the North Central College's Res/Rec Center over the weekend, and then the real packing began.

The Naperville college hosted the annual Feed the Need Illinois event, where volunteers worked to pack more than half a million meals for children facing hunger worldwide.

Groups from across the region - representing churches, scouting organizations, families and more - worked in two-hour shifts to assemble Feed My Starving Children MannaPack meals, which consist of a specially formulated blend of dehydrated vegetables, vitamins, soy protein and rice.

From there, the packages will be shipped to places like South Sudan, El Salvador, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries where the need is great.

"We are building community, we are saving lives, we are bringing hope for children who need food who are starving," said Matt Hebel of Naperville, the event chair.

Among the volunteers was Rich Miller of Naperville.

"This is absolutely great," Miller said. "It's a really good space for what we're doing."