Volunteers prepare to pack meals for people in impoverished nations

It's a feat of almost epic proportions, but this year's Feed My Starving Children effort appears to be well in hand as thousands of volunteers prepare to pack meals at Cape Girardeau's Osage Centre.

Linda Tenkhoff, one of the event's longtime organizers and a parishioner at LaCroix Church, said the goal this time around is to pack 925,000 nutritious meals for people in impoverished nations.

Last year, the goal was 825,000.

"Thirty-six-hundred volunteers is what we need, and as we're speaking, we have them," Tenkhoff said Tuesday.

To accomplish their goal, 400 volunteers will work in nine two-hour shifts from Friday to Sunday -- one shift Friday evening, five shifts Saturday and three shifts Sunday.

Meals consist of high-protein dry goods including rice, soy nuggets and dehydrated vegetables and are valued at 22 cents each, or $203,500 worth of food for the Cape Girardeau event.

The meals come with flavor packets and can be reconstituted with clean water.

"For every bag we fill, it will feed six individuals," Tenkhoff said.

The food is distributed to about 70 countries through mission partnerships with schools, orphanages, refugee camps and malnourishment centers, according to fmsc.org.

"When you're doing God's work, He just provides everything you need," Tenkhoff added. "You just walk through it."

Pertinent address:

1625 N. Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.