BY LINDA HULL
Vice President
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
Sign up now here to volunteer for shifts on Sept. 11 and 12 packing bags of ready-to-prepare meals
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos recently received a generous grant from Rotary District 5520 and Rotary International to sponsor a Peace and Health project to provide 40,000 meals to families in need in Northern New Mexico. Working with Meals of Hope, a Florida-based food-packing organization that “inspires and empowers communities to come together to end hunger,” and with Crossroads Bible Church, 97 East Road, the Club invites the community to join Rotarians on Saturday, September 12 to pack bags of ready-to-prepare meals of beans, rice, and macaroni and cheese. Each bag contains enough for six servings and is labeled with cooking instructions. Seasoning packets are also included.
The packaged foods will be given for distribution to The Food Depot in Santa Fe, which also provides food to LA Cares and the rest of Northern New Mexico. Ordinarily, The Food Depot provides 528,000 pounds of food each month to a network of non-profit hunger-relief partners and to individuals and families through direct service programs. However, these are extraordinary times. In April alone, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Food Depot distributed over one million pounds of food, almost twice its usual distribution, enough for 836,635 meals. By undertaking this project, the Rotary Club of Los Alamos is actively working to relieve hunger in Northern New Mexico.
Set-up for this sizeable project begins on Friday, Sept. 11 at Crossroads Bible Church with volunteers unloading pallets and arranging work spaces in the Church’s lower level. On Sept. 12, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. two shifts of 48 Rotarians, Interactors, and other community volunteers will be posted at these work spaces, strictly following the required six-foot social distancing. All participants must wear masks. Rotarians in charge will provide instructions for volunteers as they pack and label, sort and organize. Most tasks require standing for up to two hours. There will be a one-hour break at 11 a.m.
Individuals and organizations in the community are cordially invited to sign up for shifts scheduled on September 11 and 12 by going to: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080D4AA8A928AAFB6-rotary. Please direct questions to: Rotary Club President Laura Gonzales, abqlaura1@gmail.com, 699-5880.