About 25 members of Second Baptist Church donned hairnets and gloves and gathered around long tables in the church's dining hall on Saturday morning to measure out scoops of rice, soy protein, vitamins, seasoning and dried vegetables and funnel them into packages.
In just a few hours, the team used assembly line techniques to put together about 650 meal packages, totaling around 5,000 individual meals, to be donated to The Manna Center. Church members talked and laughed as they worked, and celebrated each 1,000 meals they completed by banging a gong.
The "Feed the Funnel Party" was one of many large and small events facilitated by The Pack Shack, a nonprofit organization based in Cave Springs, according to Ben May, party operations manager and Siloam Springs resident.
The Pack Shack was founded five years ago to fight food insecurity in the state of Arkansas, May said. Since then it has branched into 36 states and is looking to keep growing, he said.
"We're just doing what we can to try and help out other nonprofits to provide food for people that aren't able to get the next meal to fight that food insecurity," May said.
The organization developed a complete meal that includes rice, soy protein, dried vegetables, a vitamin mixture, seasoning and a cheese packet. Each packet provides a nutritionally balanced meal for about eight people at a cost of $0.25 per serving. The packs can be easily prepared by adding boiling water.
Businesses, churches and faith-based organizations raise the money for the ingredients and provide the labor to pack the meals, May said.
"Basically our business model is it costs $0.25 per meal to do these, so all they would need is an indoor place to do it, tables, people and the $0.25 per meal that pays for the event and that covers all the ingredients," he said.
According to the The Pack Shack website, thepackshack.org, the organization has brought tens-of-thousands of people across the country together to pack millions of meals. They have worked with organizations such as Walmart, Tyson Foods, Ohio State University and AT&T, as well as many faith-based and nonprofit organizations.
Mark Brooker, director of The Manna Center, said businesses such as DaySpring Cards and Northwest Arkansas churches often team up with The Pack Shack to donate meals to his organization. The Manna Center distributes the packs through its food bank and shares them with other nonprofits in western Benton County.
Wayne Pope, pastor of Second Baptist Church, said his small church has been looking for more ways to serve the local community. A church member suggested they try to plan a Feed the Funnel Party with The Pack Shack, and excitement about the plan began to grow.
The church gathered donations and held bake sales to raise the $1,250 for the meals they packed and donated. Pope is hopeful his church will be able do the same thing next year.
"We're trying to use the energy that God has given us to bless the community and we're seeing so many answers to prayer each step of the way," he said.
General News on 09/23/2018