Rochester Hills

Church volunteers to pack 10,000 meals for hungry children

By Mary Beth Almond
C & G Staff Writer

ROCHESTER HILLS — Nearly 40 volunteers from Epic Church will come together this month to pack 10,000 meals for children in need.

The event is part of the church’s Project Hope program, in which members participate in four designated service events each year.

After hearing about the humanitarian food-aid organization Kids Against Hunger, whose mission is to significantly reduce the number of hungry children in the United States and to feed starving children throughout the world, the church decided to partner with the group for its first service event of 2012.

Brandon Kennedy, Epic’s communications director, said it’s always a great feeling to give back to those in need, but when it involves children, it really hits home.

“I look at my own children and how much they have, and it breaks my heart to think of kids going days without any food,” he said in a statement.

Through funds designated for community outreach, Epic Church will purchase the materials to make 10,000 meals and will package them up from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at Lutheran High School Northwest, 1000 Bagley in Rochester Hills.

“The organization provides big bins with all the ingredients that go into this food product, so there will be three assembly lines where we’ll be measuring and adding each ingredient to the packets, which will be sealed, labeled and boxed,” said Wendy Boer, who heads up the Project Hope missions team at Epic.

Of the 10,000 vitamin-fortified soy-rice casseroles that will be packed that day, one-third will go to a current disaster relief program, one-third will be stored in Kids Against Hunger reserves for future use, and one-third will stay in the Rochester area.

The meals that will be distributed locally will be donated to Rochester Community Schools Blessings in a Backpack program and the Rochester Area Neighborhood House Food Pantry.

Blessings in a Backpack is a supplemental food program that operates through Rochester Community Schools to alleviate hunger in kids by sending food home with children in the free and reduced lunch program so they have a nutritious meal over the weekend.

Kim Williams, who coordinates the district’s Blessings in a Backpack program, said she started the program three years ago after learning there were three men in her neighborhood tied to the automotive industry who were out of work.

“One of them had shared with me that he had to sign his kids up for the free-and-reduced lunch program, and I thought, ‘Gosh, it’s happening right here.’ The way the economy is, it could continue on for awhile, so to let people know that their community stands behind them is a good thing,” she said.

What started out as a pilot in four schools has since expanded to six — Hamlin, Hampton, McGregor, Brooklands and North Hill elementary schools, and Reuther Middle School, which Williams said were chosen because they had the highest free-and-reduced lunch populations out of all the schools in the district.

“Now we’re feeding about 230 kids each week, so we’re really appreciative when organizations like the Epic Church think of us and to give back to their community,” she said.

The RANH food pantry, which is operated by a team of volunteers and housed at First Congregational Church in Rochester, provides emergency food for individuals and families in need from Rochester, Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Oakland Township and Addison Township. In order to receive food, those seeking assistance are required to complete a screening process at the Neighborhood House’s main offices, and they can receive help up to six times per calendar year.

Those interested in volunteering for the food-packing event are asked to call Wendy Boer at (586) 738-6147 or email wendyboer@yahoo.com.

Epic Church meets Sundays at 9:43 a.m. at Emagine Theatre, 200 Barclay Circle in Rochester Hills.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Mary Beth Almond at malmond@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1060.