Cline was at the tail-end of one of four assembly lines

Cline was at the tail-end of one of four assembly lines where volunteers, wearing hairnets, some over baseball caps and scarves, and plastic gloves, measured soy meal, dried vegetables, chicken flavoring and rice into plastic bags. Once weighed, they were sealed and then boxed up, 36 packages to a box.

The packaging event was sponsored by the Garden City High School Key Club which raised $2,500 for the project through an Empty Bowls event to pay for the meals which cost about 28 cents each. Each bag can feed six adults or 12 children.

“This is the first time we've done it at the high school,” said Key Club president Brittany Zapczynski. “We did it at the Key Club convention and decided we really want to make a difference in the community.”

The club put a call the week before the event, held June 4, hoping to get 150 volunteers. The students expected 75 people, but when more than double that number showed up, Michael Burwell, executive director of the Kids Against Hunger Coalition of Michigan, had a plan. He rotated people in and out of the different work stations. Students, school district employees and parents with children from preschool to high school took turns assembling the meals.

“I've never had such sweaty hands,” said high school secretary Karen Avey. “This is so fulfilling, but eeeeew!”

The packaging started just before 9 a.m. and by 9:20, Burwell had workers stop to hear table one announce they had packaged 2,500 meals. By 9:45 a.m., the total count was 8,000 meals, and Burwell was starting to shut down the assembly lines.

And by 10 a.m., the cleanup was well under way.
“We bring a whole mobile packaging operation to them,” said Burwell. “We bring the service project to the community in order to reach out to the world and to other people in the community.”