By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter

(l to r) Jeanne Aspero, Martha Michalewich, Ron Aspero, Colleen Crowley and Michael Michalewich pack meal kits at Trinity Church.
Northborough – Over 50 volunteers were rockin’ out to pop tunes in the Fellowship Hall of Trinity Church in Northborough May 11 to pack nutritious meal kits for Rise Against Hunger. Their goal was to pack 10,000 kits in two hours. It was a daunting challenge, but it was one that was easily met.
Co-sponsored for the second year by the Northborough Lions Club and the GFWC Northborough Junior Woman’s Club, volunteers worked in groups to assemble the kits.
“We enjoy it every-time that we do it,” said Lions Club President Colleen Crowley. “We love seeing how the community pulls together for this and the fact that it is really going to help people in need across the world and we are looking forward to next year.”
“Today we are packaging 10,000 meals in order to send oversees,” Joe Gautier, New England Regional manager of Rise Against Hunger, explained. “These are rice, soy, veggies and vitamins in a meal bag that can be cooked up in a pot of water, boil them. It works a lot like oatmeal.”
Stations were set up where each group worked as a team. Each person was assigned an ingredient that they added to a bag which was situated in the center of their station. When each bag was full it was whisked away to be sealed on the spot and packaged for shipment.
“We are going to send them to malnourished people all over the world in all developing countries,” Gautier noted.
Rise Against Hunger’s mission as an international hunger relief organization is to distribute food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable, mobilizing the necessary resources to end hunger by 2030.
For more information, visit www.riseagainsthunger.org.
Photos/Melanie Petrucci

(l to r) Lorna Helms, Firefighter Captain Jamie Desautels, Balwinder Kaur, Diane Mehlman and Leann Eichelman pack meal kits at Trinity Church.

(l to r) Tricia with daughter Allison (last names withheld), Kathy Dalgliesh and Liz Nolan pack meal kits at Trinity Church.