For more than a decade now, hundreds of volunteers have spent the third Saturday in October on an assembly line at Lakeland Union High School.
They take bulk foods and package them into six or eight-portion meals.
Much of the food goes to local food pantries and backpack programs.
The rest gets taken back to the Food for Kidz headquarters in Minnesota where it’s sent all over the world to people who need it.
Meghan Anderson is the Co-Chairman of the Northwoods event. She says the need locally for food has grown every year.
Last year, they sent food to 14 local programs. This year it’s up to 15.
“I think we've seen about a 20% increase in the orders of what they like. I'm not sure if that's due to government funding or just the food prices going up. Their buying power for what they can get for what they have is less. What they can use from us has gone up for that reason. But I think there's a lot of factors that go into why we're doing as much as we are now or what we're hoping to accomplish this year,” said Anderson.
The goal this year is to package 250,000 meals.
To do that, the group needs 600 volunteers to sign up.
There are two shifts that need 300 people each, plus some people to help set up the day before.
“You are moving the whole two hours and people bring their friends, they bring their family, they come with their church groups or other organizations. People have a really good time, it's a very feel-good event, knowing that you're helping so many kids in such a short period of time,” said Anderson.
People can sign up through the Food for Kidz Northwoods Facebook page.
The packaging event is Saturday, October 21.
