Photos and story submitted by Mercer Stronck
On Saturday, Sept. 14, Christ Church Portola Valley and Woodside parishioners, along with community members, packed meals with the nonprofit Rise Against Hunger for the third consecutive year.
To accommodate the more than 100 volunteers who participated, the event was moved from the church grounds to the Portola Valley Town Center event room.
The energetic group prepared 15,000 meals for school-aged children in the Philippines affected by Super Typhoon Carina, which hit the islands in July. “Nothing else matters until you satisfy the base level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—food and water,” said Jeremy Loader, the Rise Against Hunger organizer. “Each box is enough to feed one child for an entire school year!” In total, the efficient and smiling assembly line produced 71 boxes in just under two hours, with children enthusiastically striking a large gong for every thousand meals packed to celebrate each milestone.
After packing the boxes and cleaning the event room, a large group headed to Christ Church, where a hearty lunch of chicken noodle soup, salami and cheese croissant sandwiches, and potato salad with apple pie for dessert was waiting. “This was my first year participating in this event, which has such a major impact on feeding hungry children in areas of the world facing major challenges. All ages of our community, from 4 to 92, were present participating in this amazing outreach effort,” said Deacon Lauren McCombs.
“This is a very unique event,” said Mary Soubirous, who helped organize the event and operated one of the many meal-bag sealing stations. “It combines partnership with the fun and worthwhile task of feeding those in need. It is especially rewarding for our youth because it gets them to think beyond themselves.”
On Saturday, September 28, the packed meals will leave the Port of Oakland bound for Manila, where they will be received by Rise Against Hunger’s partner Convoy of Hope. If you would like to attend next year, keep an eye on Christ Church’s website in August.
