The ninth annual Lancaster County Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) MobilePack event will be held on Friday through Sunday, April 5 through 7, at Willow Street Mennonite Church, 399 E. Penn Grant Road. During designated shifts on each day of the event, members of the community will gather to pack thousands of meals to help combat food insecurity around the globe.

Children from kindergarten to 12th grade and adult volunteers may sign up for a specific two-hour shift to pack food items. Packing shifts vary on each day, and student-to-adult ratios have been assigned to groups of volunteers to ensure the safety and efficiency of the event. Tasks that may be completed sitting down will be available as needed.

Individuals who register for a shift are encouraged to make a minimum financial donation to FMSC. Each minimum donation will cover the cost of more than 200 meals, which is the average amount of food one volunteer packs during a shift. In addition to the financial donation, FMSC invites participants to bring a nonperishable food item on the day of their chosen shift. Requested food donations include peanut butter, rice, pasta and low-sugar breakfast cereal, and FMSC will distribute all donations to the Lancaster County Food Hub in Lancaster city.

Lancaster County FMSC MobilePack chairperson Lora Magnus Wenger first learned about the organization during a mission trip she took to Haiti in 2013. Wenger was volunteering with nonprofit organization Mission of Hope, which partnered with Haitian orphanages, schools and nonprofits to distribute FMSC meals to roughly 50,000 children per day. Upon returning to the United States, Wenger said she was inspired to research the organization, and she signed up for an FMSC MobilePack event in New Jersey. "I was very impressed by the organization and its goals and methods," Wenger added. "I decided that our community could do this too; I came back and talked to my church about it, and we hosted our first event the following year."

Since the first MobilePack event at Willow Street Mennonite Church, volunteers have packed and paid for more than 2 million meals for communities around the globe. Although the goal of the event has remained the same more than a decade later, certain changes have been made over the years. Due to inflation, the cost of each meal has slightly increased, and hand-washing stations have been made available during shifts in recent years to meet government safety regulations. A few years ago, FMSC began accepting donations for the Lancaster County Food Hub to battle food insecurity in the local community in addition to efforts in other countries.

"Living in the United States, we are incredibly blessed," Wenger said. "I think it is important for us to not only recognize how blessed we are but to be willing to share our blessings with others. It is also a good opportunity for young people down to age 5 to be involved in sharing and caring for others."

For more information, visit http://www.willowstreetmennonite.com/feed-my-starving-children.