October 7, 2015 at 1:39 p.m.
Food for Kidz rolls into LUHS Oct. 17
Food for Kidz rolls into LUHS Oct. 17
By Nancy Cipollone-
Food for Kidz was originally named Kids Against Hunger and was started when an American doctor, Richard Proudfit, traveled to South America and witnessed firsthand the malnutrition of children in the third-world country. He realized there was a need for a nutritious food supply in third-world countries and put a plan into action.
In 1999, Proudfit founded Food for Kidz (Kids Against Hunger). He developed a balanced, high-nutrition meal to meet the nutritional requirements of severely malnourished children. The meal is easily digestible and has a long shelf life.
Food for Kidz has been in the Lakeland area since 2008. The organization raised $19,000 last year which went toward 154,440 food packages.
"Last year we packaged almost 150,000 meals in just over three hours," explained John Breiten, Food for Kidz volunteer, "This year's goal is 175,000 meals with the Lakeland area receiving approximately 42,000 meals.
"Boil the package for 20 minutes and it's ready to eat, "Breiten said, describing the simple preparation. New this year are two new meals: cinnamon/oatmeal and rice/beans. The basic ingredients in the food packages are rice, soy, dried vegetables and a teaspoon of 21 vitamins and minerals. The packages are assembled by volunteers and each volunteer is assigned an ingredient.
During the food packaging event, each volunteer table has a funnel and every person is assigned an ingredient. When a table runs out of an ingredient, a volunteer holds up a sign reading "re-supply" and their table is then restocked with the needed ingredient.
The cost to make the meals is 15 cents, according to Breiten. That 15 cents feeds 100 children for one day, $45 feeds 10 children for a month. The group's goal is to make 175,000 meals for hungry children, which means they need to raise $26,250 with a sign-up of approximately 600 volunteers to work the shifts at LUHS.
"It's the economy. There are a lot of people out of work and they rely on food pantries," Breiten said, explaining the community need for the product. "Eagle River has almost 800 people they feed each month and Boulder Junction has almost 500 mouths to feed each month."
Breiten became involved in the program in 2010. "I was so impressed with what the organization was doing that I thought is was a worthwhile program to be involved with," he said. "I volunteer to make a difference."
Food for Kidz needs help from the public. Volunteers are needed to reach the packaging goal of 42,000 meals for the Lakeland area. There are two morning shifts available on Saturday, Oct. 17. For more information, contact John Breiten (715) 686-7570. For more information visit www.foodforkidz.org.
Nancy Cipollone may be reached via email at [email protected].
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