Organizers of the Fountain Hills food packing event are busy making plans for this year’s community activity.

Scheduled for the evening of Thursday, March 9, at the Fountain Hills Community Center, this year’s event will be the seventh in as many years. Over the past six years, volunteers in Fountain Hills have packed more than 300,000 meals that have been distributed to refugees, disaster victims, and other low-income households, according to Don and Pat Corey, of New Journey Lutheran Church, co-chairs of the event.

As the planning progresses, the organizers are looking for additional community sponsors – organizations and people – to contribute funds to buy the bulk dry ingredients that go into the meals.

“It’s really a church and community effort. We’re always seeking additional groups and organizations to join with us,” Pat Corey said. “We’re always seeking financial support.”

At the packing event Fountain Hills volunteers will form assembly lines to combine nutritional ingredients into two types of easily cooked dehydrated meals: dried soup mix with rice, dried vegetables, soy protein and vitamins; and oatmeal with sugar, cinnamon and vitamins.

The project has been done in conjunction with the international relief organization, Food For Kidz. In addition to distribution internationally and to disaster victims, some of the meals are distributed locally through the Extended Hands Food Bank and other groups that feed the hungry in Arizona.

By using volunteer labor and bulk ingredients to make the meals, the cost of the meals is brought down to about 15 cents a meal, said Corey. However, the project relies on contributions in order to buy the bulk ingredients. A donation of $100 pays for 667 meals, while $500 pays for 3,333 meals.

The packing activity will be about two hours long, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Corey said. Volunteers are needed for that, too, she said. Last year, about 300 volunteers came out to help pack the meals, including many children and elderly participants. That made the packing event at the Community Center truly a community event.

The two primary sponsors are New Journey Lutheran Church and Church of the Ascension.

“We have numerous contributions through the church community, civic organizations, and the Fountain Hills community,” Corey said. Many businesses have also contributed.

For more information, Don and Pat Corey can be reached by email at fhfoodpack@njlc-fh.org.