Meals for the Masses: BCLUW students pack 20,000 meals to fight worldwide hunger

The premise behind Meals from the Heartland is simple: no one should go hungry, especially during the holidays. BCLUW elementary and high school students came together with the nonprofit organization last Wednesday to package approximately 20,000 meals that will be sent to families in need in 18 countries all over the world.
           
Pastor George Filber, a Wisconsin native who previously preached in Oskaloosa before recently moving to the Des Moines area, led the event and explained how he first got involved with the program, which will have packed over 22 million meals by the end of 2017.
           
“I was looking for something for everybody in our church to do, and so this was kind of one of those things where you can have five-year-olds all the way to 85-year-old people doing the same thing and doing something that’s really going to change lives,” Filber said. “That’s kind of what we were looking for.”
           
The meals themselves probably struck the Americans packing them as a bit odd: the “Hearty Mix” is a sealed plastic bag containing rice, soy, vegetables and vitamin powder, but Meals from the Heartland also prepares a macaroni and cheese dinner more appealing to hungry families in places like Iowa. 
 
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