Clayton groups extend Stop Hunger Now meal-packaging events

CLAYTON -- The second meal packaging event this month for Haiti was met with more than 300 volunteers from a cross section of area churches and civics groups.

From 14 churches across the Clayton area, approximately 300 people “stood shoulder to shoulder packing 50,000 nutritious, dehydrated food packages for Haiti children in orphanages, schools, churches, and . . . for needy families,” wrote Tom Ricks, one of the chief organizers for the event.

Ricks, a member of Horne Memorial United Methodist Church on Second Street, has been planning a series of meal packaging events since last summer, galvanizing a force of local churches, students, civics groups and even rehabilitation centers around his cause.

“The day shared by all involved resonates the feeling, ‘it is more blessed to give than receive,’” Ricks wrote.

While the meal packaging events were originally planned to occur Jan. 28, Feb. 4 and Feb. 23, the groups have now added a fourth and a fifth packing date on Feb. 25 and later in March.

“My vision is to fill a 40’ container by each quarter, totaling 285,000 meals by the end of March,” Ricks said.

So far, the two packaging events have packaged 90,000 meals that will be sent to Haiti and distributed by trusted networks through Horne Memorial and other organizations.

Once a 40-foot container is filled by one organization, it can specify to officials at Stop Hunger Now where they want the meals to go.

And its that destination which has been a huge part of the packaging events’ success.

The Ryan Epps Home for Children, a school, church and children’s home in the community of Miseau, Haiti, will be one of the many recipients of the meals.

The home’s director, Yvon Pierre, helped draw support for the meal packaging events by coming to Clayton and touring the Triangle area for more than a week in late January and early February.

“It’s a privilege to be a part of it,” Pierre said at a speech he gave at Horne Memorial Jan. 25, showing photos of the children at lunch, recess and in school. He extended his thanks to Helen Little, a Horne Memorial member who is a founder and board member of the Ryan Epps Home.

While the home has a board of directors working to raise money, it is a nonprofit and only pays its employees in Haiti – the teachers and directors at the home, school and church.

Pierre expressed the need for food during his visit, helping to bring food packers on board for the meal packaging events.

The board of directors can raise money to feed the children at the home, but they can also work to bring communities together to package nutritious meals themselves to send directly to Haiti.

Pierre, who helped package at the first event in January, will be meeting the cargo shipments from Stop Hunger Now and will help distribute them to Ryan Epps and surrounding communities in need.

Ricks said he hopes to bring isolated church congregations together through this common cause, and he has made it a goal to package 285,000 meals to feed the Ryan Epps home each quarter.

“This is a huge target for God’s plan,” Ricks said. “But if we pull together, amazing accomplishments can be achieved.”