Interactors and Rotary Take A Bite Out of World Hunger

Ten thousand meals to be delivered somewhere in the world where people are suffering from hunger.

That’s what members of the La Grange High School Interact Club – along with help from various others – managed to package and box up in just one hour and 21 minutes on Saturday.

Interact members were joined Saturday by members of the La Grange and Giddings Rotary clubs, Fayette County Fair directors, Fayette County EMS personnel, Habitat for Humanity volunteers and others to carry out the food project.

The volunteers gathered at the Event Center on the Fayette County Fairgrounds to fill labeled plastic bags with measured amounts of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a micronutrient packet. The bags are then put in cardboard shipping boxes that are placed on pallets, taken to a warehouse in Houston, from which they will be shipped to a place in need. The whole program is carried out by Rise Against Hunger, a 25-year-old international organization addressing hunger worldwide.

“This food-packaging project gave Interact students a hands-on way to make a difference in the world,” said Mike Coppinger, president of the La Grange Rotary Club.

“We hope this will help inspire them to continue being volunteers – making a difference for years to come.”

Faculty sponsor of the Interact Club is Heather Muesse. Members often assist in Rotary projects, from Movie Night on the Square to the annual Rotary Pancake Supper fundraiser.

Although preparation and clean-up took time too, the assembly-line style bag packing and sealing took just under an hour and a half to complete. By noon, the truckload of food was on its way to Houston.

“That’s really a lot of impact in a short amount of time,” Coppinger said. Rotary has partnered for a number of years with Rise Against Hunger to help address global food needs. Similar events have been held in Bastrop and Flatonia.

Besides providing the people- power to pack the meals, Rotary also provided the funds to pay for the food. The La Grange and Giddings club contributed $4,000 to underwrite the equivalent of 10,000 meals.

“This is one of the important things we can do, thanks to the wonderful way people here support our Rotary fundraisers,” Coppinger said.

Exactly where the food will be sent isn’t yet known, he added.

“When they get enough pallets to fill a shipping container, Rise Against Hunger will ship it to someplace it’s needed. Then they will let us know where it went.”

The last time La Grange Rotarians led such an event, the food shipment went to Haiti.