About 200 volunteers will gather at 5 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday, March 21, in the Community Center for the Food for Kidz food packing event.

They will spend the next two hours packing thousands of dehydrated meals to be distributed through various organizations that feed the hungry.

“Planning has gone well and we should be set to go on Thursday,” said Dave Bubke, of New Journey Lutheran Church, chairman of this year’s event.

Participants should arrive between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m. They will be assigned to teams that will pack the meals assembly-line style, adding different ingredients as the packets move down the line.

Volunteers affiliated with a group are asked to arrive together so they can participate at the same packing table.

It’s not too late to participate, said Bubke. Just show up at the designated time.

It will be the ninth year for the local community food packing event. At some point during the evening, Bubke said volunteers will pause briefly to celebrate the preparation of the 500,000th meal, recognizing the cumulative total of meals packed during those nine years.

Bubke said he and other members of the steering committee greatly appreciate the community participation in the enterprise.

“It’s a chance for people to come together to help other people,” he said “We want to say thank you in advance to the many people in the community who have made these food packing events a success. We’d like them to know we appreciate their being there.”

The project is financed through donations, which pay for the dry ingredients. Contributions will still be accepted Thursday at the packing location in the Community Center.