FFTP Needs Volunteers to Pack Meals at FAU for Ukraine
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (June 6, 2022) More than 1,000 volunteers are needed to help Food For The Poor pack lifesaving MannaPack rice meals for families in Ukraine on July 23 at FAU Arena in Boca Raton.
The charity is teaming up with longtime partner Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) to host Join The Pack Ukraine.
The event will bring together individuals, churches, businesses, community groups and families throughout South Florida, united by a common goal to help families suffering because of the war in Ukraine.
Three packing sessions are available: 9 to 11 a.m., noon to 2 p.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, July 23. All participants must register in advance.
The relationship between FFTP and FMSC, a Christian nonprofit organization based in Coon Rapids, Minn., goes back many years and has grown exponentially. Since 2009, the partnership has added up to almost 1.2 billion donated meals.
“Urgent help is needed in Ukraine,” FFTP President/CEO Ed Raine said. “We have confidence in our longtime partner Feed My Starving Children that they will get this food to the families who desperately need it. And we’re extremely grateful to our volunteers and the South Florida community for their prayers, for their gifts and for their time to pack these MannaPack meals. Without them, none of this would be possible.”
FMSC has been working with Mission Eurasia, a group of more than 3,500 pastors. In the last eight years, they have established a foothold and delivered more than 12.5 million meals to this area of the world.
Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe, providing crops that not only feed the Ukraine but are exported to many countries. But the war has prevented farmers from sowing their land while making it harder to ship harvested crops due to a blockade of Ukraine’s critical seaports.
At Join The Pack Ukraine, volunteers will fill plastic bags with cups of white rice and soy, scoops of freeze-dried vegetables and flavoring containing essential vitamins and nutrients. The easy-to-make, easy-to-transport MannaPack meals made with boiling water are an answer to countless prayers – like manna from heaven.
The event also will raise funds to cover the cost of shipping the meals and provide ongoing humanitarian aid in Ukraine and surrounding areas where refugees have fled.
FFTP and FMSC have worked together to host several food-packing events. From 2016 to 2019, the charity held Join The Pack events each year. In 2016 and 2017, 225,000 meals were packed for Haiti. In 2018 and 2019, 300,000 meals were packed for Guatemala. In addition, more than 116,000 meals were packed for Haiti at an event in 2020 honoring the lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. In 2019, FFTP supported another MSD event hosted by FMSC in which 700,000 meals were packed over two days.
For more information on Join The Pack Ukraine, including sponsorship opportunities, call 888-404-4248. Register for the event at www.FoodForThePoor.org/jointhepack.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Communications Associate
954-471-0928 – mobile
[email protected]