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Ready, Set, Let’s Start Packaging Meals!

on  June 29, 2020

If you haven’t already heard the big news, we’re excited to announce that Rise Against Hunger has resumed meal packaging events to continue our journey of distributing food to the people we serve around the globe. After months of restriction, our organization has revised our event layout to accommodate fewer volunteers, spaced farther apart, incorporating masks in addition to gloves and even more stringent sanitation practices. Our new layout follows CDC guidelines and local regulations to maintain a safe environment for our volunteers and staff.Our meals are more important now than ever before, as the UN projects that the hunger crisis could double this year due to COVID-19.Our volunteers and staff have shown that they are up for the challenge! Check out the testimonials below from our volunteers who share their experiences at meal packaging events with our new layout. Also, a few of our Community Engagement Managers share how they’re preparing our warehouses and starting to engage volunteers again across the United States.

Volunteers package 18,000 meals over the weekend in Virginia.

“We need to do our part to be ready for when our volunteers are ready so that we can put food on the plates for those who are counting on us, especially right now. We are working to prepare our warehouse to begin meal packaging and we are excited to do so this weekend with The Rotary Club of Sandston and Henrico East Rotary Club. We have cleaned everything we can touch, we have reorganized a space to act as a volunteer welcome center, we are putting signs on the door to inform volunteers to wear their masks and honor social distancing and we are even putting tape on the floor to provide guidance for where to stand and walk. We are so eager to begin packaging but we must do so safely to honor the volunteers that honor us with their donation and service.” – Mike Nelson, Richmond Community Engagement Manager

United Airlines hosts meal packaging events at Washington Dulles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport – EWR and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to package meals, incorporating our new safety guidelines.

“The National Capital team has been gearing up to restart our meal packaging experience with volunteers! We’re getting our warehouse cleaned, organized and ready to roll so that volunteers feel safe in our space. We’re also revamping our event playlist to make sure we keep the fun and excitement going non-stop!” -Yasmin Ibrahim, National Capital Community Engagement Manager

Our staff prepares stations to ensure the safety of volunteers at our Washington D.C. warehouse.

“To get ready for our CDC compliant meal packaging events, we started by cleaning our space from top to bottom, sectioned off the meal packing space, and then sanitized every touchable surface: from door handles, light switches and tabletops to sink faucets, the water cooler taps and even the volunteers’ sign in pens. We then staged our warehouse to accommodate 9 volunteers, plus 1 event facilitator, with at least 8 feet of space between to maintain social distancing. We staged additional bins and equipment to be replaced between each meal packing shift, and walked through the entire process several times to ensure we could host an enjoyable and fun, but safe meal packaging experience.” – Blane Maxwell, Charlotte Community Engagement Manager

Staff at our Charlotte location gardening and preparing the warehouse for meal packaging events.
For over 20 years, our organization has relied on the hands of our volunteers to push our mission of ending world hunger forward. We’re asking you to rise to the challenge and package meals to reach the people we serve around the world — especially during this time of crisis. Join us by signing up today!

Interested in learning more?
Our team is ready to help!

To find out more about meal packaging and how to organize your own event, fill out the form and a Rise Against Hunger team member will contact you to start planning. If you’ve connected with our team or filled out this form previously, no need to submit it again. A Rise Against Hunger team member will be in touch soon!
 

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About the Author

Janae Curtain is the Manager of Digital Marketing at Rise Against Hunger. Janae leads the development and execution of digital marketing initiatives including social media, email marketing, digital advertising and more!

More Posts by Janae Curtain

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.