The seeds for the annual Lancaster County Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) event were planted in 2013 when pediatrician Dr. Lora Mangus Wenger and her family visited Haiti with members of Willow Street Mennonite Church as part of a Mission of Hope mission trip.

"At that time, (Mission of Hope) was feeding 50,000 children a day by distributing meals to their school, other schools, and orphanages," Mangus Wenger said. "A warehouse (of food provided by FMSC) was stacked from floor to ceiling with boxes."

Mangus Wenger had never heard of FMSC before that and decided to do some research after returning home. She discovered there were no MobilePack events taking place in Pennsylvania, so she and her husband, Todd, and daughters, Anna and Naomi, participated in a MobilePack in New Jersey.

"I thought, 'We can probably do this ourselves,'" she recalled. Willow Street Mennonite Church got involved and hosted the first Lancaster County MobilePack in 2014. That event attracted 50 volunteers and put together 100,000 meals.

This year will mark a milestone. Because two years were canceled because of COVID, the 10th Lancaster County FMSC MobilePack will take place Friday to Sunday, March 28 to 30, at Willow Street Mennonite Church, 399 E. Penn Grant Road, Willow Street.

To date, meals have gone to Somalia, Haiti, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Malawi, Uganda, Jamaica, Poland, Guyana, and Moldova. Over the prior nine events, more than 10,000 volunteers from the community have come together to send more than 2.3 million meals to those most in need around the world, Mangus Wenger said.  

This year, the plan is to have 2,000 volunteers work two-hour shifts to pack 400,000 meals in three days. There are no age limitations. For safety and efficiency, student-to-adult ratios are put in place, Mangus Wenger said. Sit-down jobs are available if needed.

Individuals who sign up for a packing shift are encouraged but not required to make a personal goal of contributing a minimum of $63. At the price of 29 cents a meal, this donation covers the cost of one box of packed meals (216 meals), which is the average amount a single volunteer packs in a two-hour period.

"This food is literally going to those most in need around the world. Some of the people receiving this food only have one good meal a day," said Mangus Wenger, who is the Lancaster County FMSC MobilePack chairperson.

Donations may be submitted at http://www.fmsc.org. Registration is underway and can be completed on the website.

Packing times are March 28 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m.; Saturday, March 29, from 9 to 11 a.m., noon to 2 p.m., 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., and 5 to 7 p.m.; and March 30 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Some shift times are more popular than others and fill quickly. 

FMSC is also committed to helping people closer to home by collecting food for the Lancaster County Food Hub. Volunteers are invited to bring a nonperishable food item that will be donated to the food hub in Lancaster city. Anyone from Lancaster County may receive food from this location.

Items requested include 1-lb. containers of peanut butter; canned meats such as chicken or tuna; 1-lb. bags of white or brown rice; canned fruit in juice or light syrup; pasta, preferably whole wheat; meal helpers; low-sugar breakfast cereal; and low-sodium soup.

Anyone who has never participated in an FMSC event will need to visit http://www.fmsc.org, set up a username and password to register as an individual or for a group, go to the upper right-hand corner, and click "Log in." People can then create an account to set up a username and password. 

After setting up an account, participants may type "FMSC.org login" into a browser and click on "Volunteer." People may then reserve the number of spots they will need for their group. Groups may help during multiple shifts, but they should not reserve more spaces than they know they will fill.

"I'm very thankful that so many people are willing to get involved," Mangus Wenger said. "It particularly makes me happy to see children involved, because I think it's very important we help them understand the importance of having adequate food on a regular basis, and how in the United States, we're very, very blessed. Unfortunately, a lot of children in the world don't have adequate nutrition. We are able to help them. I am happy to see our community be so supportive."

To celebrate the 10th event in Lancaster County, Daryl Fulp of Hope for Home Ministries in Guatemala will talk briefly before each packing session about the impact of the volunteers' work.