Fourteen conference office staff recently joined hundreds of other volunteers in downtown Des Moines for Meals from the Heartland’s 11th annual Hunger Fight.
Meals from the Heartland is a nonprofit organization in West Des Moines dedicated to feeding the hungry in Iowa, the United States and around the world. Since 2008 they have provided over 100 million meals to people in need.
In just two hours, conference volunteers packaged 1,800 Hearty Packs, a meal containing rice, soy protein, vitamins, minerals and vegetables. Those packages will provide 10,800 servings of prepared food. It was the first year the conference office has participated in this event, but they plan to take part every year going forward.
“Meals from the Heartland is doing an incredible work,” said conference president Dean Coridan. “I was impressed with how organized the event was. It’s amazing to see so much work accomplished in such a short amount of time.”
In addition to the satisfaction that comes from taking part in meeting others’ needs, participating in this event also provided the conference with opportunities to build relationships with other organizations in the community and build stronger bonds between colleagues within the office. “I really enjoyed the fellowship, having fun and laughing together,” said Robert Wagley, executive secretary. “It’s a great way to bring communities and people together in doing the very thing Jesus asked us to do: serve and feed the hungry.”
Learn more about Meals from the Heartland at mealsfromtheheartland.org.
Photo: Courtesy Meals from the Heartland
