Making a Difference, One Potato Meal at a Time
Wisconsin potato industry packs over 100,000 meals at Feed My Starving Children Mobile Packing Event
For the second year in a row, the Wisconsin potato industry joined forces to help alleviate world hunger.
Over 250 volunteers, many with ties to the Wisconsin potato industry, packed over 100,000 potato-based meals for the charitable organization, Feed My Starving Children.
The Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) was a key sponsor of the mobile packing event which took place on June 23, 2012 at the Noel Hangar in Stevens Point. Former WPVGA board President Mike Carter (CEO of Bushmans’, Inc., Rosholt) and his wife, Ali, were instrumental in organizing the event and bringing it to fruition.
Carter said it cost $24,000 to fund the mobile packing event, and 250 volunteers worked two-hour shifts over the course of the day. The WPVGA Board of Directors unanimously approved a motion to fund the FMSC mobile packing event at a level of $10,000. The Wisconsin Potato Growers Auxiliary made a $5,000 donation, and fundraising efforts by the Carters and the WPVGA over the past eight months were successful in raising the needed funds.
“I want to give a big thanks to everyone who helped make this event happen,” Carter said. “We met all of our goals, both in raising the necessary funds and obtaining the needed volunteers. I also want to thank the people at Feed My Starving Children—they’re truly professionals. They have an incredible system and are very dedicated to making everything run smoothly.”
Over the course of the day, volunteers packed 108,864 servings of MannaPack™ Potato meals, developed by the non-profit Christian charitable organization, Feed My Starving Children. MannaPack Potato servings are formulated to prevent starvation in children using dehydrated potatoes, vitamins and minerals. Volunteers work in teams to measure ingredients into bags, weigh them, and heat-seal the filled bags. The completed meals are boxed and shipped to starving children at various locations around the world.
