RALEIGH – What was projected to take four hours only took three as 200 volunteers fought hunger by packing 40,000 meals Nov. 16.
St. Joseph Church hosted the food packing event. The event was coordinated and organized by Cross Catholic Outreach in collaboration with the Raleigh parish. According to Tom Panas, of Cross Catholic News, the shipments will be sent overseas to families in need.
An estimated one billion people go to bed hungry each night, he added. Saturday’s food packing event was a great opportunity for the community to rally together to help fight hunger around the globe.
For parishioners Patti and Gerry Shanley, the event was an opportunity to continue service they did in June during a Cross Catholic mission trip to a small mountain village in Guatemala.
“We went to a little village where people received the food boxes. They are selected according to need. One family, one box, three months of food,” Patti said. “It really spoke to our hearts that there is such need. We can address it. There’s a lot we can do, and it’s not that hard.”
At Saturday’s event rice, soy, beans, dried veggies and vitamins were packed for each food box. Clad in hair nets and gloves, volunteers at 12 workstations measured, funneled and weighed food, and sealed the bags as music played to keep everyone, including the youngest volunteers, in the spirit.
Once all the food was packed, the church choir sang and the group ended the event with a prayer.
For Gerry, the experience of assisting Cross Catholic Outreach reminded him of the universality of the Church.
“It was very moving to have Mass with people from Guatemala in Guatemala,” he said. “When you meet these folks, they thank God. They have the right order of things. If you ever want to have a sense of what’s providential, they have it. A sense of what God desires. They really enhance your faith.”
About Cross Catholic Outreach
According to its website, Cross Catholic Outreach is an official Catholic nonprofit 501(c)(3) relief and development organization that, since its founding in 2001, has given more than $1 billion in aid to help “the poorest of the poor” in more than three dozen developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and other parts of the world.
