#m2tc | 5,400 Meals Packaged for Families In Central Iowa

A Walnut Creek Windsor Heights team packages 5,400 meals for Meals From the Heartland during M2TC.

In a little under two hours, a team from Walnut Creek Windsor Heights packaged 5,400 macaroni and cheese meals with the organization Meals From the Heartland. Teams from Mission to the City have served here in previous years packing meals as well.

Meals From the Heartland is a nonprofit based in Des Moines that empowers people to help the starving around the world, in the United States, and in central Iowa. In 2014 the organization packaged 10,658,144 meals. Their 2015 goal is 15 million meals. They rely largely on the help of volunteers from churches, businesses, and organizations.

The meals packaged by the M2TC team will be sent to families in central Iowa through local food banks and school programs. In addition to packaging meals, the team helped landscape the property and clean and sanitize the packaging facility.

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By Jackie Wallentin

Walnut Creek Windsor Heights

Mission to the City Goes Global

Mission to the City volunteers pack meals for Meals from the Heartland. Photo by Stephanie Brandstatt.

The work of Mission to the City reaches beyond Des Moines – as far South Africa, Haiti, and the Philippines. Mission to the City groups from Walnut Creek Windsor Heights teamed up with Meals from the Heartland to pack meals that will be sent to those three countries.

“We packed 20,000 meals just this morning,” said Joel O’Dell, hunger fight manager for Meals from the Heartland. “The need is great. One in six people in the world is starving. It’s biblical to help them – we’re called to take care of our neighbors.”

Brigitte Haugen of Walnut Creek Windsor Heights said the experience was very eye-opening for her. “There are a lot of people who need food,” she said. “I’m thankful we can be part of this because it demonstrates how much we as a church care about people.”

Jon Touchette, also of Walnut Creek Windsor Heights, said he was impressed by the efficiency of Meals from the Heartland’s system, which allowed them to pack the most meals possible in the time they were there. He added that feeding the hungry is really about following Jesus’ example. “Jesus did what he taught,” he said. “It’s important to live the gospel – not just speak the gospel.”