A 2021 IMPACT Grant Unfolds – CFMC conducts site visit with Pack Away Hunger in Martinsville

With this Community Foundation of Morgan County Impact grant, Pack Away Hunger (PAH) will conduct an inclusive hands-on learning and service opportunity on March 18, 2022 for approximately 100 students and staff members at John R. Wooden Middle School in Martinsville.

PAH’s Nutrition & Hunger Educator will lead 45 minutes of nutrition and hunger education, including their significance and how each impacts the students and their Morgan County community. Participants will then apply learned knowledge by working alongside fellow students to pack 30,000 highly nutritious, shelf stable meal pouches. Meals will then be sent to John R. Wooden Middle School Food Pantry and Churches in Mission for final distribution to Morgan County residents seeking the assistance of these Morgan County non-profit organizations. This program will directly impact approximately 5,100 students, staff and Morgan County residents.

The school has chosen to go above and beyond awarded grant funding and pack several additional cases of food that will be shipped as emergency humanitarian aid to Ukrainian citizens.

This program allows John R. Wooden Middle school to educate students about nutrition and hunger education, supplying a small portion of the federally required nutrition instruction. Without this grant funding, the school likely wouldn’t have the available funds to host this program as 49 percent of its students are eligible for free/reduced lunch making it difficult to seek donations from families to cover the costs of the program.

Since its inception in 2010, PAH has worked with corporations, schools, churches and civic organizations to host more than 550 inclusive meal packing events and produce nearly 20 million meals. PAH annually educates more than 8,000 volunteers, 40 percent of which are under 18, about the toll poor nutrition and hunger take on individuals and communities.

PAH is a turnkey organization that brings all materials, supplies, etc., to the participating event site host. Other resources necessary for successful implementation include students and staff ready to learn and serve.

PAH will have an immediate impact on Morgan County and its residents by affording John R. Wooden Middle School students the opportunity to receive forty-five minutes of nutrition and hunger education and two hours of hands-on packing the day of the event. In addition, 30,000 meals will enter Morgan County’s hunger-relief system through the school’s food pantry and CIM. Receipt of grant funding also pushes PAH one step closer to its mission of eliminating hunger in Indiana and around the world by providing nutritious food, hunger education and service opportunities.

PAH’s long-term mission is to eliminate hunger. Zero Hunger is goal number 2 on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. This goal seeks to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. Building the Zero Hunger generation and eliminating world hunger takes the commitment of the international community as well as those at home in Morgan County who are closest to the problem in their communities. This program prepares John R. Wooden Middle School students to become engaged and empathetic leaders and advocates in their communities and globally. Educating today’s youth about world issues means preparing tomorrow’s adults to create a sustainable world free from hunger. PAH is resourcing these students to accomplish this and to create a thriving Morgan County community for all.