New Journey Lutheran Church Sponsors Fountain Hills Community Food Pack for Food For Kidz
This article was contributed by Gwen Rubenow, member at New Journey Lutheran Church. LAMA delights in sharing the stories of hunger relief in our community; if you would like to contribute a story about your ministry or an event, please reach out to our office!
From ages 5-95 and everywhere in between, 150 community volunteers gathered at the Fountain Hills Community Center for the 11th Annual Fountain Hills Community Food Pack – Food for Kidz on February 29. These volunteers packed 64,000 meals in two hours for hungry neighbors near and far. “We had an overwhelming turnout. Volunteers were eager to participate in the food pack,” said Denny Rubenow, coordinator of the event.
The ecumenical activity was organized by New Journey Lutheran Church (ELCA) of Fountain Hills, and supported by St. Anthony’s on the Desert (Episcopal), and Church of the Ascension (Catholic). In addition, many other groups and individuals helped provide financing and volunteers. These included the Northeast Valley Consortium (a network of ELCA congregations), Fountain Hills Presbyterian, Thrivent, Messinger Mortuary, Lions Club, and Epcor.
Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona (LAMA) along with the New Journey Lutheran Church Social Ministry chair, provided each volunteer with specific facts regarding food insecurity in Fountain Hills and Arizona. In addition, those attending were encouraged to “speak up” to support programs and policies in our state and nation that address immediate and root causes of food insecurity poverty, and health needs.
In addition to the robust turnout of New Journey Lutheran members, several groups of volunteers came out to support the event: amazing student runners and packers from The Inspiration Academy, Fountain Hills High School, Imagine School East of Mesa, as well as the Rural Metro Fire team which provided heavy lifting support.
The nutritious dehydrated meals, packed from nutritionally sustainable bulk ingredients, consisted of dried oatmeal mix with sugar and cinnamon. This can be cooked with minimal supplies. One box of food provides 320 meals. Fifty percent of the meals packed will remain locally. The remainder of the meals will be sent to world locations, including Ukraine.
The meals are being distributed by various groups that feed the hungry. Extended Hands Food Bank in Fountain Hills received 17,600 meals. Additional meals were delivered to the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona; Native American Connections and Grace in the City Outreach in Phoenix; and AZ Brainfood, which serves school children in the Valley.
This is the eleventh year that volunteers in Fountain Hills have participated in the project, said Rubenow. In total, 1,915 Fountain Hills Food Pack volunteers have provided 704,200 meals in these 11 years.
New Journey Lutheran is already making plans for another food-packing event to be held in the Spring of next year. New Journey would be happy to hear from other groups and individuals who are interested in participating in the organization of this community event. Email Denny Rubenow at fhfoodpack@njlc-fh.org if your organization or faith community would like to participate.
Thank you to New Journey Lutheran for sharing the story of this event with us!
