Corn Palace Food Drive, Mitchell SD

• 1,100 volunteers pack 380,068 meals at Corn Palace event | Agweek | Midwest farm news and ranch news

• Featured article on ImpactLives | Living Stone News

We had an amazing weekend in Mitchell South Dakota! Mitchell is a city of about 15,000 of the most welcoming and generous individuals who turned out in great numbers to make this our first official public event very successful. A total of 330,068 meals were packed in less than 10 hours.

We raised nearly $80,000 with $20,000 coming during the packing event. Over 1200 volunteers from Mitchell, Sioux Falls, Nebraska and North Dakota came to be a part of this amazing community event.

Following is an article from the local Newspaper. I have received a lot of emails and calls from people thanking us and wondering about the next event. Thank you for all your support. We are on our way to something remarkable!!!

Ramon

1,100 volunteers pack 380,068 meals at Corn Palace event

Jamie Gibson The Daily Republic
Published Monday, April 20, 2009
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com

All day Saturday and into the evening, the Corn Palace took on the appearance of a culinary school and the sounds of a cheer camp.

But thanks to Mitchell’s efforts, the world is now 330,068 meals closer to making an impact on world hunger.

For the community’s first large-scale meal-packing event, 1,100 volunteers turned out to scoop dried ingredients, wear funny hats and cry “Whoo!” each time they filled a box of food bound for hungry people overseas.

Five-year-old Brace Howlett didn’t miss a beat as he scooped dried milk into plastic bags. He took a tabletop perch and scooted right up to the tubs of food to help his parents and grandparents pack meals. Around the table it went, like clockwork: milk, vegetable, soy, rice. New bag.

Sponsored by the nonprofit group Impact Lives, the event will feed 1 million Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic. One box, which contains 216 meals, is estimated to feed a family of six one meal a day for six months. Fifty-four dollars pays for supplies and shipping of one box.

Impact Lives exceeded the goal amount by several hundred volunteers, including a few unexpected helpers.

Bowlers in town for a tournament wandered in to get a peek at the Corn Palace. They witnessed the hubbub of activity, went back to the hotel for their teammates, and returned to set up a table and pitch in. Another couple of tourists made an impromptu donation.

By early evening donations totaled $75,000, and event coordinator Deb Weitala hadn’t even checked her mail yet. The original goal was $72,000.

“I wanted people to absolutely love it, and they have. Everybody in this room, I think, has been changed a little bit for being a part of this,” Weitala said.

Volunteers were of all ages and walks of life. One table had both a 91-year-old in a wheelchair and a 1-yearold just learning to be mobile.

A few volunteers even stuck around the whole day, among them Shay Davis and Kendra Nydam, who attend Northridge Baptist Church with Weitala.

“I knew I wasn’t doing anything and this was where I needed to be,” Davis said simply. “It’s not every day you get to be part of a miracle.”

“I just think it’s fun,” added Nydam, a fifth-grader. “And it’s helping out people who are starving. I knew from the bottom of my heart that I wanted to do it.”

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Thank you for your generosity and for making a difference in the lives of hungry children!