Volunteers package 150,000 meals for the hungry near and far

SNOHOMISH — The atmosphere was festive, even as volunteers confronted a life-or-death issue.

Hundreds of people bustled outside the Snohomish Events Center on Saturday to package meals for impoverished families. The event dubbed “Fight Against Hunger” was a first in Washington. It had an ambitious goal: mix enough nonperishable packets of rice and soy powder, vitamins and spice to feed 150,000 people.

Know-how came from a local company that specializes in easy-to-fix meals. Nonprofits provided connections to deliver the food locally and in east Africa.

More than 1,000 volunteers supplied the energy to get it done.

“It’s been everything I’d hoped for,” said Darin Leonard, CEO of Dream Dinners, the Snohomish-based company that spearheaded the effort. “One of the coolest things is the kids … I’d say about one-third of the kids out here are under 15 years old, packing meals for kids they don’t know.”

Setup began around 6 a.m. Three hours later, volunteers started arriving hundreds at a time to work one-hour shifts.

With tents shielding them from a glorious azure sky, they worked around fold-up tables along Second Street. Some funneled ingredients into plastic packages, while others carted off bins of finished product to be sealed, boxed and put on pallets.

“The reason we have so many volunteers is so everybody can experience it,” said Tina Kuna, who co-founded Dream Dinners and serves as vice president of an affiliated nonprofit, Living the Dream Foundation. “There is no age limit and everybody can play a part in it.”

The finished bags weighed only about 14 ounces each, but the contents expand after adding water. Each bag provides six meals.

“They have enough nutrients in the rice packets to reverse the effects of malnutrition,” Kuna said.

Founded in 2002, Dream Dinners now has almost 90 franchises in 25 states. The company caters to busy families with healthy meals that are prepared ahead of time so they can be served in a hurry.

“We’re trying to provide easier ways for families to spend time around the table,” Kuna said.

Dream Dinners and Living the Dream Foundation teamed up with a San Diego-based nonprofit called Friends and Family Community Connection to pull off Saturday’s event. Friends and Family has distributed more than 11 million meals in the United States and overseas. It has hosted meal-packing events in California and several other states.

Food-services company Sysco donated 15,000 pounds of rice for the meals.

The plan is to ship 100,000 of the meals to Tanzania, where Friends and Family has experience. Three churches and Volunteers of America are preparing to distribute the other 50,000 in Snohomish County.

The churches are: Snohomish Community Church, Sonrise Christian Center in south Everett, and The Father’s House Foursquare Church in Granite Falls.

The Father’s House pastor, the Rev. Shawn Roberts, said his church helps feed up to 80 families through a food bank it operates on the first and third Friday of every month. Joining the Fight Against Hunger made sense.

Shannon Malinosky, a Father’s House member, helped sign up volunteers.

“It’s knowing that you’re doing something for the greater good, not only for your community, but for the world,” the 56-year-old said.

Ben Doucette, a Snohomish High School teacher, convinced most of the boys tennis team he coaches to join in.

“They didn’t bat an eye,” Doucette said. “I said we’re going to cut our practice short and go pack meals for the hungry and they said ‘OK.’?”

Sophomore tennis player Kyle Bremer said he was happy to put in hard work for a good cause.

“I love that they came to Snohomish because we’re such a small-town community,” said the 15-year-old, who broke a sweat after carrying tubs of packaged meals for shipping. “We’d like to have it next year.”

Leonard, the Dream Dinners CEO, was already thinking about it. He wants to set his sights higher next time. A half-million meals? That might just be possible.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.

Fight hunger

More info about local and international work to fight hunger though Living the Dream Foundation and Friends and Family Community Connection is available online at www.livingthedreamfoundation.com or www.ffccsd.org.