PALESTINE (KYTX) - A busy afternoon at Lakeview Methodist church where volunteers are packing boxes as fast as they can.
The volunteers are on a mission to end hunger, and they aren't slowing down. "You want to finish your box first before the other team, so you can get another one and just keep going," Amanda Bates, a 16-year-old camper, said.
Bates knows her work for a short time in this assembly line may mean the difference between a child's survival or starvation. "It makes you feel good because you realize that's all they're eating," she said.
The boxes will soon be on their way to school kids in Belize, one of the many countries being helped by Stop Hunger Now. It's an international relief organization dedicated to ending hunger in our lifetime. "It's really about getting a movement together and actually affecting change," Brandon Romano, Program Manager at Stop Hunger Now, said.
Romano is fueled by stories where food has actually made a difference, like in the case of two girls who started growing their hair again. "We're talking about 14-year-old girls who, for their lifetime, have had a protein deficiency, and because of the meals we're making they're in a healthier state," Romano said.
Teens have gotten a small taste of what that poor state feels like.
"We had rice and beans for dinner one night, and everyone was saying there was no salad. I was ready to tear up the salad bar!" Dylan Dupin said.
Dupin adds for him, it's put into perspective the blessings we often take for granted. "You think about people in other countries who would be so lucky to get that for dinner," Dupin said.
The operation is precise, with rice, dehydrated vegetables, and soy all measured into one bag. "It's definitely not a cheeseburger that we're used to in America, but it's pretty good considering for many people who receive these meals, this may be their only one that day," Romano said.
The campers are sending off more than 50,000 meals to Belize every week. Other poverty-stricken countries are also being serviced around the world.
