Note #1: This might be one of the first things I have been going to write about that has led me to wonder about that thread I spoke about in the last blog.
Note #2: I separated this blog into two sections. The second section, “Operational Details” is just in case anyone is interested in more detail about the meals and/or how this was accomplished.
Okay, you’re going to have to envision this: a gymnasium crowded with anywhere from 200 to 300 people, adults and children; 4 generations, in fact, all wired and ready to go, for whatever the event.
Now imagine yourself as the radio announcer for a basketball game and you are in your special broadcasting booth, center court, and above the action. As you look down on the excited bunch the dress code becomes obvious. No one is without headwear. There are baseball caps, all sizes and colors, some worn with the brim in the front and many with the brim to the back. There are a few women with scarves tied around their heads. Those without hat or scarf are wearing far less than attractive blue-colored hairnets. And, most noticeable, would be all the red. Almost to a person, all are wearing something of red, representing the color of the traffic sign “STOP”.
Want to know what you are envisioning? A whole group of people brought together by our small group at church, approximately 24 of us, with the purpose of preparing 40,000 meals, to be sent to Haiti by the charitable organization, Stop Hunger Now. We raised some money simply by explaining to people what we wanted to do and asking if they had even a small amount they would contribute for us to buy the food for those meals. Now, here’s the thing. We had a goal of buying food to prepare 10,000 Soy Fortified Meals. But after totaling what we ourselves had contributed and what we had collected, we had enough for 40,000 meals!!! Yes, you did read it correctly, 40,000 meals, 4 times our goal! Not bad, I’d say. Once that number sunk in, we wondered how in the world we were going to be able to package all those meals? So we announced to the entire church body, friends, relatives, anyone we thought of, that if anyone wanted to join us, we’d appreciate the help. The low estimate was that 250 people were in the gymnasium the day we needed them. The high estimate was 300. Remember, there are only about 24 of us who wanted to do this! The desire for people to help was amazing, profoundly so!
But you know what made it particularly touching and fulfilling for me? First, it was simply the fact that we could do something for Haiti, especially for the children. The food would be part of a school-feeding program. By distributing the food at school, the children would come and they could continue to be taught. (This was particularly a thrill for me since I had spoken to way too many people who did not want to send aid to Haiti. Some did not even want doctors to go there!) Of course it was also very uplifting and encouraging thinking what 24 people had inspired and accomplished. But, in addition to these things to appreciate, was WHO made up our volunteers.
As I said before, there were 4 generations all working together. Allan was responsible for replenishing ingredients for the bagged meals. I was supposed to be one of the “runners”, a volunteer who carried meals, once packaged, to other volunteers who were filling boxes. Somehow, to my great pleasure, I ended up with two helpers. I had Alexi, who is 10 or 11 years old and is the oldest of three sons of our Russian friends, Igor and Luda. Then I also had Paige, the 7-year-old daughter of our friends Erica and Nick. They both evidently thought they made better runners than I. After only a few minutes I was relegated to piling the bags into their arms, stabilizing those bags and sending them off.
In addition to my two helpers, I had Trista in front of me, sealing bags, totally engaged in the process and the people working along side her. That was so good to see, naturally. To Trista’s left was a really nice woman, Jesse. Her friend, from another church, and with whom she had had lunch, was with her. Once Jesse had told her what she was doing after lunch, the friend asked to come help! To my left was a nice-looking young Black man. To my right was an attractive woman from China. Across the table was an Hispanic family. At the table behind me was our friend Igor. Everywhere I looked I saw people, not technically “alike”, but very much alike, nonetheless. For that afternoon my heart was honestly a little lighter and warmer. For me, it was a much needed and effective medicine.
Operational Details
Here’s a brief explanation of how the operation went, to the best of my ability to describe it.
There are 2 lines of tables going the length of the basketball court; one down the left side of the court as you enter, and the other slightly beyond the middle point. Along the court’s right side are perhaps 4 round tables, strategically placed.
At the line of tables on the left of the gym volunteers filled different pitchers (provided by the program) with 4 ingredients for the Fortified Soy Meals: rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables, and flavoring mix. Those ingredients would ultimately become a high protein, nutritious meal, with more than 20 vitamins and minerals and a shelf life of 5 years.
The “in between” volunteers, those moving between the 2 lengths of tables, would measure the required amount of whatever ingredient s/he had into open plastic bags, held by seated volunteers at the second table. Those volunteers were then responsible for making sure that his/her bag contained all 4 ingredients, in the exact proportion specified by the program, and then further ensuring accuracy by weighing the bag.
A filled bag was handed across to the other side of the table where volunteers had special sealing instruments. The instrument itself looked similar to a stapler and functioned exactly the same. The bag was placed beneath the top “handle”. Pressure was applied and the bag was heat-sealed.
Next to the last step in this assembly process was completed by “runners”. Those volunteers would gather an armful of bags and deliver them to the round tables on the gym’s opposite side. At the round tables the meals were placed into piles of 2, then counted into groups of 20, I believe, which filled a box. Once filled, boxes were carried out and loaded into a truck parked as close as allowable to an outside exit. And that exit was on the same side of the gym as the round tables, of course. After only 1 hour and 20 minutes we were done!
For each 1,000 meals boxed the program manager would strike a gong. As we started out there was a lapse of time between each gong strike, of course. But before long, there was basically no time between the strikes. It was amazingly noisy, which made it that much more awe-inspiring!!!
There just can’t be too many better uses of such a short period of time, can there? Truly, there just can’t be.
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