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Shreveport churches to package thousands of meals for hunger relief in Africa

Kate Archer Kent

Volunteers from three Shreveport churches will package more than 240,000 meals this week for African hunger relief programs in Rwanda and Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone.

The El Dorado, Kansas-based charity Numana Inc. is equipping the churches with the ingredients to package bags of a rice mixture that costs 30 cents per meal. Numana’s Lindsay Brown of Shreveport is helping organizations across our region put on these fundraisers and meal packaging events.

“They set up assembly line style. Pour the ingredients into a bag. The bags are weighed, sealed, boxed up, loaded onto pallets and prepared for international shipping at the event,” Brown said.

Since 2008, Numana has put on food packaging events nationwide delivering 30 million meals to the developing world.  Brown traveled to Rwanda to see firsthand how these meals are dispensed.

Over the past six months in her new job, she has helped a dozen organizations host food packaging events. She’s continually amazed by what can be accomplished when people work together shoulder to shoulder.

“Everyone gets this hands-on, tangible experience of serving the hungry in a very unique way. The output is just jaw-dropping,” Brown said. “Once a station of 10 to 12 people gets going, they can put out 1,600 to 1,800 meals per hour, and they just get more and more efficient as time goes on, as with any assembly line.”

Almost 800 volunteers are involved in packaging events this week, hosted by Brookwood Baptist, The Simple Church, and Trinity Heights Baptist.

Brown says on March 28 volunteers from across Shreveport/Bossier will package 200,000 meals for the local community and distribute them to area charities that feed the hungry. That event is called Meals on The Red.

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' broadcast and media experience to Red River Radio. He began his career as a radio news reporter and transitioned to television journalism and newsmagazine production. Chuck studied mass communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.
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