Westborough Group Needs Help Packaging 41,000 Meals for Local Food Banks

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The following was submitted by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church:

A diverse group interfaith youth and adults in the Westborough area have partnered together to raise money and package meals for those who are hungry in Worcester County. This group will gather on Feb. 7 from 1-5 p.m. at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church 183 West Main Street, Westborough.

Due to the generosity of fundraising and man-power the volunteers from these organizations will be packaging 41,000 meals. Anyone interested in helping is welcome to come that day. Any donations will help package more and each meal is 25 cents. Local food pantries will be recipients of these packaged meals, including, but not limited to Westborugh, Grafton & Oxford-Webster.

The following organizations have come together as part of this effort:

Congregation B’nai Shalom
Christ the King Lutheran Church
Congregational Church of Westborough
First United Methodist Church
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Pilgrim Congregational Church
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
St. Luke’s Roman Catholic Church
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
Unitarian Church of Westborough
Westborough Rotary Club

This feed the hungry program is facilitated through Outreach Incorporated. Outreach is a non-profit corporation located in Union, Iowa, USA. Outreach was created in 2004 when the founders, Floyd Hammer and Kathy Hamilton, returned from a trip to Tanzania on a construction mission. During that journey, they experienced the death of many children from starvation and hunger-related diseases.

A critical component to a healthy life is nutrition. From birth, the intake of vital nutrients is essential to the growth and development of a healthy individual. Good nutrition, particularly in the first few years of life, is important in establishing and maintaining a good foundation that has implications on a child’s future physical and mental health, academic achievement, and economic productivity. Unfortunately, food insecurity and hunger is an obstacle that threatens that critical foundation in the United States and around the world.

Within our borders, more than one in 6 children do not know where their next meal is coming from and often go to bed hungry. In developing countries, nearly 40,000 children die every day from malnutrition, starvation, and hunger-related diseases.