By Kristy Wagner

Staff Writer

Imagine being given the task of packaging thousands of meals to feed hungry children and only having two hours to do it. Not only is packaging 8,000 meals in two hours possible, but it is also affordable at 25 cents per meal.

Pastor Rich Horner of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Kennebunk and Associate Pastor Beverly Lowell of United Baptist Church in Saco have joined forces in the fight against hunger by raising money to package Kids Care Meals on Saturday through an Iowa organization called Outreach Inc.

The two churches plan to distribute the nutritionally fortified food packages to the Saco and Kennebunk food pantries and to the Joyful Harvest and Seeds of Hope neighborhood centers in Biddeford. The packets come in three different meal choices: beans and rice, rice and soy, and macaroni and cheese.

“When I came across Kids Care I thought ‘this is something that we could be involved with.’

I was looking for a project; I’m always looking for some sort of a project for youth group,” Lowell said.

As the secretary at Holy Cross Lutheran, Lowell originally came across Kids Care while doing research for Horner, who had heard about Outreach Inc. through other Lutheran pastors. Floyd Hammer and Kathy Hamilton founded the nonprofit organization in 2004 after they returned to Iowa from a trip to Tanzania.

“They were just floored that all these children (in Africa) were dying so they came back to the United States and founded a foundation to address the issues of hunger. Not just the food problems but the problems that stem from hunger as well,” Lowell said.

Martin said Outreach Inc. originally packaged meals to be sent overseas, but the organization became more grassroots as it evolved over the years in the United States. Any group that wants to participate in a good cause can package Kids Care Meals. Packaging groups have the option of sending the meals to local food pantries and hunger charities instead of to Africa.

Lowell and Horner were drawn to the grassroots aspect of the Kids Care Meals program and decided to hold an event of their own.

“It struck a cord with me and the concept sounded really wonderful and that kind of began the process of looking further into how the food packaging events operate and we decided to work together with Beverly Lowell at United Baptist Church,” Horner said.

Lowell said she called Outreach Inc. at its Iowa headquarters and members there put her in touch with Lutheran pastor Matthew Martin in Massachusetts. Martin, who moved to New England from the Midwest, is regional director of Outreach Inc. and Kids Care Meals in New England.

Martin said New England was Outreach Inc.’s “last area to cover” and that Lowell and Horner’s meal packaging event is the first ever in Maine.

Martin has orchestrated and participated in hundreds of packaging events over the years. He used to do it as a volunteer, but last summer he became the regional director for the New England chapter and now feeds the hungry for a living.

“In New England, Maine is the worst off for food insecurity among children,” Martin said. “Twenty-four point six percent of kids go to bed hungry in Maine. There are not many states in New England that are much better off.”

Martin said each meal contains vitamins, minerals and at least 11 grams of protein.

“(Kids Care Meals) have three different kinds of food packets: a rice and soy packet, macaroni and cheese and then beans and rice,” Lowell said.

She said for Maine’s first packaging event, the churches agreed only to package macaroni and cheese as Mainers might be more familiar with that meal over the other two options.

 “(The label) tells you how to cook it and tells you they’re nutritionally fortified,” Lowell said.

Outreach Inc. provides all the food, labels, plastic packaging, and scoops.

“What it amounts to is churches raise the money and give it to me and I turn it into product,” Martin said. “The more money we have, the more hands we have, the more meals we have, the more we can package it and give it away.”

Martin said organizing a packaging event is not difficult. Volunteers form assembly lines of a little more than a dozen people. Each person on the line has a job to do such as scooping, weighing, measuring, sealing or boxing.

“Anybody can do it at almost any age,” Martin said.

Holy Cross Lutheran and United Baptist raised $1,500 between the two congregations.

“(The) majority of money came in from donations from church members. We put word out that we knew this event was going to happen and we were looking for people to participate. (Both churches) had quite a number of people who responded generously,” Horner said.

Horner said an organization called Thrivent Financial for Lutherans matched Holy Cross Lutheran’s $500 donation. Thrivent’s matching donation brought the two churches combined total to $2,000. At 25 cents per meal, the money raised by the churches bought 8,000 Kids Care Meals.

“Both churches have been very, very generous in donating to this,” Lowell said.

Martin said he was pleased with Horner and Lowell for exceeding their original fundraising goals.

“Bev wanted to do 2,000 meals and Rich wanted to do 4,000, but they raised enough money to do 8,000. By the end of (Saturday) they’re probably going to have enough money to do 12,000,” he said.

Martin said he will attend Saturday’s event in Saco and bring extra food just in case additional donations make it possible for volunteers to package more meals. Between the two churches, 60 people volunteered to package Kids Care Meals. Lowell said she wants volunteers to enjoy their time packaging meals.

“When you have people who volunteer, you have to honor their time and make it worth their while. I respect people who volunteer. I think they’re going to go home feeling (the Kids Care event) was good,” she said.

Lowell said she was impressed with the number of members from both churches who offered to help.

“We advertised it within the churches and the response was fantastic,” Lowell said. “It is our hope that all those 60 people are going to go back to home and work and let it spread.”

Lowell hopes for her church to host four Kids Care Meals packaging events per year. She would like to see food packets from future events go to Good Shepherd Food Bank so the nonprofit can distribute the food to communities in northern Maine where she said many food pantries and shelters have closed.

Horner plans to host a bigger event at Holy Cross in the future and said the Kennebunk church might purchase packaging equipment, such as the heat sealing device for plastic bags, for use at future events and to share with other groups that would like to organize Kids Care Meals packaging events.

“The goal of (Martin) is to have churches all throughout New England and various communities to have this equipment so it can be loaned or shared between churches. We have not made a decision to purchase that equipment but we are considering purchasing that equipment,” Horner said.

Martin said he is excited for the first Kids Care Meals event in Maine. He said it is one more step in defeating hunger.

“We’re just trying to go where love leads, serve where love calls and assist communities to feed the hungry. It’s pretty exciting how (Kids Care) is unfolding and how we’re getting on the cusp of eliminating hunger in New England,” Martin said.

The Kids Care meal packaging event takes place at the United Baptist Church in Saco from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. The churches will continue to accept donations for additional food until the event.

Volunteers for Saturday are not needed at this time, but Lowell and Horner said they will look for people to volunteer at future packaging events.

Staff Writer Kristy Wagner can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.