Two days, 1,500 volunteers, 200,000 fed was the motto of the staff and a small but dedicated team of volunteers as they prepared to commemorate World Food Day on Friday October 15 and Saturday October 16. But thanks to an enormous outpouring of support from the community 1,700 volunteers created 350,000 meals in just two days!
The Center’s World Food Day commemoration kicked off with Dr. William Danforth banging the gong signaling food packaging volunteers to begin converting thousands of pounds of Missouri rice, soy protein, dried vegetables and vitamins into meal packages that will be sent to critically malnourished people living in Tanzania Africa.
On Friday dozens of local high school students organized by the Center’s Jr. Board of Directors participated in a late night packaging rally from 9 p.m. to midnight. The Jr. Board’s goal for the event, Rally for a Cause, was to package 50,000 meals but they exceeded expectations and wrapped up the night with 61,000 meals pushing Center over its goal of 200,000 meals by the end of the first day.
Saturday the work continued and hundreds of volunteers packaged to the beat of African music and working in teams to make meals for people they would never meet but who desperately needed their help. Volunteers were appreciative of the opportunity to help as well as the chance to learn more about how researchers working at the Danforth Center work to end hunger for the long term.