Left to right: volunteers Britney Ralstin, Grayson Ralstin, Issac Kammerer and Rita Conley.

WARSAW — With music blaring, 390 people helped pack bags for Feed My Starving Children’s opening night Wednesday, Oct. 5.

Participants young and old gathered around set stations at Grace College’s Gordon Student Recreation Center to fill MannaPacks with vitamins, veggies, soy and rice for Warsaw’s third annual Feed My Starving Children MobilePack. The bags are prepared by groups ranging 13 to 20 people in size, with volunteers filling, weighing, sealing and packing bags into boxes.

FMSC is partnering with Allowing Christ to Shine, an organization dedicated to helping children in Haiti. Allowing Christ to Shine president Clark Shepherd told the crowd that the boxes packed were being shipped directly and would not be spending anytime in a warehouse. The event, which was planned back in February, is just in time to help with those devastated by Hurricane Matthew.

While tired faces are indicators of hard work, the night is clearly a fun time. People singing to the blasting music can be heard throughout the recreation center, interjected with occasional chants to signal that a group has finished packing a box. Competitions are sporadically announced to keep teams motivated, such as seeing if groups can pack four boxes, 144 bags, in ten minutes.

The past two years the organization has been able to hit their goal of one million meals prepared, and they are hoping for the same this year. The night’s event alone prepared 140,400 meals, with the 390 volunteers packing over 600 boxes.

In order to reach their one million meals goal, Warsaw MobilePack is still in need of donations. “We’re almost there! But donations are still needed if we want to reach our goal,” says Megan Stone, one of the event coordinators. They will continue to accept donations after the event this weekend to prepare for next year. Donations can be addressed to FMSC and sent to PO Box 1802, Warsaw, IN 46581, or sent through the Warsaw MobilePack website.

Stone says there is still a need for volunteers on Saturday, Oct. 8, with events from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and again from noon until 2 p.m. To register to volunteer go to their website.

Sponsors for the event include: Maple Leaf Farms, Widman Business Group, Payprotec, Tecomet, Da-Lite, Sign Fracture Care International, Sym Financial Advisors and Zimmer-Biomet.