eNEWS

Hunger is a serious issue throughout the world; however, many people don’t realize that hunger impacts thousands of families right here in the United States. For instance, nearly 1 in 10 households in Minnesota struggle with food insecurity. If all Minnesotans struggling with food insecurity lived in one place, they’d virtually replace the populations of the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul combined!

The meals packed at our events are created specifically to be served in households here in America. Yes, they are fortified to provide optimum nutrition. But importantly, we take into account the presentation and flavor profiles that appeal to American families.

From the start, Meals From The Heart took a fresh approach to the conventional meal-packing events that have become popular service opportunities for organizations. Experience a Meal From The Heart packing event, and you’ll begin to understand the difference. There’s a unique current of excitement and energy that flows from the music to the smiles to the busy hands. Yes, there are the familiar packing stations surrounded by volunteers that combine various ingredients into pouches. But those ingredients are at the heart of what makes Meals From The Heart different than most of the other meal-packing organizations.

Now, this is how you kick off the summer packing season – with a little trip to the mountains. We even had a tent! We packed up the Meals From The Heart truck and headed to Louisville and Boulder, Colorado to pack meals from June 5-7 with Medtronic. The air may be a little thinner in Colorado, but hearts were full, hands were busy, and smiles were abundant! Between the two cities, 88 teams and 1,431 energized people packed nearly 340,000 meals! All the meals were donated to the local Community Food Share.

Our meal-packing events have a playlist. It’s a very particular playlist, too. We’ve honed it over the years to get our hairnet heroes’ blood flowing and hearts pumping. So, why is music so important at our events? For starters, all of our volunteers and meal packers are “rock stars,” so it’s only fitting. And yes, the beat does help keep the packing teams in rhythm, but more importantly, it simply adds to the joy that flows at our events.

We’ll travel across the country to help local families. While bracing for Minnesota’s annual April snow storm last week, the team from Meals From The Heart made the trip out east to Long Island Lutheran High School (LuHi) for the annual meal-packing event.