North Central College will host its second annual Feed the Need packing event on Feb. 20-21. In partnership with Feed My Starving Children, Feed the Need is a Naperville-based coalition of churches, congregations and civic organizations.
North Central estimates that 5,000 volunteers will help pack at least 1 million meals for starving children in more than 70 countries across the globe. By volunteering on the campus, North Central’s students, faculty and staff will have an opportunity to make a difference for malnourished children across the world. As they serve alongside Naperville community members, they hope to exceed last year’s goal of 800,000 meals.
“It’s right on campus,” said Alli Nazorek (‘16), senior intern for the Office of Ministry and Service. “Students have the opportunity, like no other, to make such a big difference in a short amount of time and I am really excited to be a part of it this year.”
This year the event will be held at the 91,000 square-foot Residence Hall/Recreation Center in the Carius Track, where 50- to 60-packing stations will be set up with a number of volunteers running each assembly-like station. Some tasks include: scooping ingredients, weighing and sealing the bags and packing boxes. Large pallets of rice and other supplies for the meal boxes will be located in the center of the arena.
“It’s like ants marching, it’s incredible,” said Brian Rainville, director of Ministry and Service. “Music will be playing and it really is a lot of fun.”
Rainville, along with assistant director Karli Saner and Nazorek, all help coordinate the details and logistics for this large-scale service event by working closely with offices across campus. They have regular meetings with maintenance, campus safety, athletics and residence life to make sure the event runs smoothly.
“Of course there are some hurdles, but I’m really proud of NCC because we are being generous with our resources by providing the Feed the Need organization with the space,” Rainville said. “As said in the Bible, ‘To whom much is given, much is required’ (Luke 12:48).”
The Feed My Starving Children organization is in charge of distributing the packed meals to the children in need across the world. The Feed the Need organization is the overarching umbrella for the event held at North Central and for the Feed My Starving Children organization. Feed the Need assists in the fundraising and publicity of the event to make it possible for the 1 million meals to be shipped out across the globe.
“I like the aspect of how ‘little ol’ Naperville’ is trying to pack 1 million meals and we are teaming up with all of these organizations and churches to make a difference in two days that can really benefit so many people around the world,” Nazorek said. “We don’t get to see it (directly) impact the people we are sending these meals to, but we know it’s happening.”
Nazorek is involved with the Office of Ministry and Service and is the office intern. She started to get involved through service trips with BREAKAWAY, and the weekly worship service, Focus. Nazorek’s main responsibilities include setting up the venues for events, like Feed my Starving Children, spreading the word through social media to get students involved and lending a helping hand when needed.
For the event itself, there will be a total of five or six packing sessions to choose from when signing up online. Each session will be two hours long. At the beginning of each session there will be a quick orientation on how to pack the meals. This volunteer event is open to the public and children as young as five-years-old can volunteer to help pack.
It’s two days, 5,000 volunteers and 1 million meals coming right out of our “backyard.”
“Though we have high goals for Feed the Need, and fully believe we can and will reach them, I think what’s even more significant is we are adding something to the community and world that can’t be bought or measured,” Saner said. “We are sharing hope in a hungry and hurting world, to our neighbors and the children we will never meet across the globe.”
Feed the Need is a FREE event to the community and North Central College students, faculty and staff.
You can also like and follow Feed the Need on Facebook at ‘Feed The Need Illinois’ or on Instagram at ‘feedtheneedil’ as North Central begins the 30-day countdown to the event with pictures of students, faculty, and staff.
“We are gathering to shine a light, and I promise you, you won’t want to miss it,” Saner said.
For more information about the event, go to www.feedtheneedillinois.org
