Church makes rice meals for Ukraine

Mount Gilead Trinity United Methodist Church members gathered July 15 to make 1,240 rice meal bags which will feed a total of 7,440 people in Ukraine. This is the second year Trinity completed this project.

Project organizer Christy Engler explained that each rice meal bag feeds about six people. Each bag contains rice with packets of protein, vitamins, and dried vegetables for a balanced diet.

Ingredients for the meals and items such as resealable bags, gloves, tape, and other supplies are all from the Midwest Mission Distribution Center in Pawnee, Illinois. Trinity paid $4,000 for 2,000 meal kits, and church members Tom Cotton, Vince Brown, Mike Jackson, and Gary Begeman made the six-hour drive to Midwest Mission to bring home the trailer with meal kits and then return them after they were assembled.

Last year, the church made 1,000 meals, and the plan this year was to make 2,000. Unfortunately, someone at Midwest Mission left out some packets of the ingredients, and they reached a total of 1,240 when they could complete no more meals.

The project is thanks to retired teacher and Trinity member Joan Myers, who has been working with projects at Midwest Mission for more than 20 years. She said a special aspect of this project is seeing people come together in the church to work on the project.

“There are so many good conversations taking place this morning,” Myers said. “There aren’t many places where people can get together and have a positive conversation these days.”

About 50 people were scheduled to assemble the rice meals in groups of eight to 10 in two-hour shifts. It became an assembly line with some placing the rice and ingredients in the bags, some weighing the bags, and others sealing and boxing the bags.

Trinity member Ruth Logan at 102 years old was placing the vegetables in the bags. She said one of the best things about the project was thinking about the people in Ukraine who will be receiving the meals.

Several people from churches in Marion County, Sunbury, and Westerville came to participate in making meals. Some had gone on trips to Midwest Mission with Myers to volunteer on projects there.

The Ukraine rice meals project is one of Midwest Mission’s International Disaster Relief projects. Midwest Mission partnered with Operation Ukraine and North Star Foundation in 2022 to send a total of 152,000 rice meal bags that will feed 914,400 individuals.

Midwest Mission also sent medical equipment to Ukraine along with men’s socks, adult underwear, baby items, emergency blankets and various supplies. Myers said the rice meals will be sent to Poland first, and the church will be notified when they arrive. From there, they will be distributed in Ukraine by various organizations.

Myers said Midwest Mission responds to many disasters, such as flooding, hurricanes, and fires in the United States. In 2022, 299 shipments were sent out in the United States and 48 shipments overseas. A total of $7.99 million was sent from Midwest Mission in humanitarian aid.

Carolyn Barr, who is 11 years old, was at Trinity Church for a couple of hours working on the project.

“The most interesting thing about the rice meals project is that a lot of different people are working to help people they don’t even know,” Carolyn said.

Midwest Mission is located at 1001 Mission Drive, Pawnee, Illinois. For more information, visit midwestmission.org.

Alberta Stojkovic is a correspondent for The Morrow County Sentinel.