On Saturday, Jan. 26, more than 140 volunteers gathered at the Waterfowl Festival headquarters building in Easton, Md. under the leadership of Easton Rotary to pack 20,000 meals as part of Rise Against Hunger. Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief organization that distributes food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable.
This is the third year Easton Rotary has participated in the program, with a total of 40,000 meals packed to date. Easton Rotary hopes to achieve packing another 20,000 meals in 2020, with a goal of reaching 100,000 packed meals by the club’s 2021 centennial.
“It was a great day of fellowship, and involving our youth in this important volunteer effort means even more lives are changed,” commented Easton Rotary President Richie Wheatley. “We packed 3,333 bags into 93 boxes, and it only took us about 90 minutes. Each box cost $80 and feeds 216 people. This is also a great example of the Rotary motto at work—service above self.”
Groups providing volunteers included Easton Rotary, Tidewater Rotary, Easton High School Interact, Church of the Holy Trinity, Easton Composite Squadron Civil Air Patrol, and Easton High School students, among others.
Easton Rotary’s project was funded through generous donations from individuals and organizations, including Easton High School Interact, Church of the Holy Trinity, St. John Foundation, Mikey Marcell Memorial Fund, Rotary Club of Easton, Rotary District 7630 grant, Tim Kagan, Reza Jafari, Patrick Fitzgerald, and Richie Wheatley.
Rise Against Hunger’s approach to ending hunger centers on mobilizing a global network of hunger champions. Rise Against Hunger meal packaging volunteers produce millions of nutritious meals annually that are then distributed to partners in countries around the world.
According to Rise Against Hunger, 821 million people across the world don’t receive enough nutrition to lead an active, healthy life. The organization is mobilizing the necessary resources—including 398,000 volunteers around the globe that put their hands on hunger in 2017 and the 1.4 million lives already impacted by the program—to end hunger by 2030.
The Rotary Club of Easton was founded and chartered on Sept. 1, 1921, and remains the oldest Rotary International Club in a town with fewer than 10,000 people. Rotary International is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian service and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. More about Easton Rotary is at eastonrotary.org.