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Food For The Poor Seeks 1,000 Volunteers for World Food Day Meal-Packing Event
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Oct. 1, 2026) – Food For The Poor (FFTP) is inviting the South Florida community to help fight hunger by volunteering for Join The Pack, a two-day meal-packing event in celebration of World Food Day, celebrated on Oct. 16.
Organized through a partnership between FFTP and Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), the event aims to recruit 1,000 volunteers to assemble 101,088 nutritious MannaPack meals for vulnerable children and families in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Join The Pack will feature four packing sessions at Community Christian Church, 10001 W. Commercial Blvd., in Tamarac:
- Friday, Oct. 16, from 1 to 3 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 17, from 9 to 11 a.m. and noon to 2 p.m.
Register for Join The Pack at: www.foodforthepoor.org/jointhepack. Ages 5 and up are welcome and no experience is required.
This is the second consecutive year Community Christian Church has partnered with FFTP to host Join The Pack, recruiting volunteers from its congregation and the greater community to participate. More than 700 volunteers took part in FFTP’s Join The Pack Jamaica at the church in 2025, packing 124,416 MannaPack meals over two days to support families recovering from Hurricane Melissa.
“We have a goal to help people in need and to share the love of Jesus,” said Chrissy Wright, connections and outreach director at Community Christian Church. “When we get the opportunity to partner with an organization like Food For The Poor, which is doing so many incredible things in Latin America and the Caribbean, we want to take every opportunity to participate.”
The charity encourages individuals, families, businesses, churches, schools, and community groups to participate. Join the Pack connects the global challenge of food insecurity with a hands-on opportunity to make a tangible difference.
“Join The Pack is an ideal opportunity for people to get together in an environment of camaraderie and goodwill as they work in teams to help others in need,” FFTP President/CEO Ed Raine said. “It’s a wonderful way for children and adults from all walks of life to share in the joy of supporting the countries we serve.”
During the packing sessions, volunteers will fill plastic bags with cups of white rice and soy, freeze-dried vegetables, and flavoring containing essential vitamins and nutrients. Once packed, the easy-to-transport meals are prepared with boiling water, with each pack providing six generous servings of nutritious food.
FFTP operates and supports programs that feed hundreds of thousands of people every day with a variety of trusted partners, including FMSC. Since 2006, FFTP has provided more than 4.69 billion meals to malnourished children and their families, including more than 76.19 million meals in the first six months of 2026. Since 2009, FFTP and FMSC, a Christian nonprofit organization based in Coon Rapids, Minn., have partnered to provide meals for families in need, together delivering more than 95 million meals annually in the last five years alone.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the United States, is committed to facilitating paths out of poverty and transforming lives. As an interdenominational Christian ministry, we help families across Latin America and the Caribbean. Our efforts span urgent humanitarian relief and long-term development – from emergency aid and hunger alleviation to education, housing, and economic empowerment. We follow a distinctive approach that integrates faith, multi-sector strategies, and trusted partnerships. Whenever possible, we strive to work at the community level, partnering with local leaders and residents to co-create sustainable solutions that address the multi-dimensional nature of poverty. For more information, please visit foodforthepoor.org.
Ernestine Williams
Communications
305-321-7342
[email protected]
