SHELBY — About 450 volunteers at Core Community Church recently packaged 52,000 meals over the course of two one-hour shifts.
The effort was part of the Shelby church’s Global Impact Day on Nov. 23.
Ben Carver, lead pastor at Core Community Church, said the church coordinated with Meals of Hope to line up all of the meal packaging. Carver said the church has worked with the organization for about four years.
Meals of Hope also assists with distributing the meals to where they are needed.
Carver said half of the 52,000 meals, each containing eight servings, were sent to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. The other 26,000 will be sent around the world through Convoy of Hope — a humanitarian, faith-based organization.
“Their primary focus is helping places that have been ravaged by natural disasters. Right now, they have a heavy impact in Jamaica after the hurricanes that tore through there,” Carver said of Convoy of Hope.
Below are photos from Core Community Church’s Global Impact Day on Nov. 23. Photos courtesy of Core Community Church. The story continues below.
Each of the 52,000 packages contain the same meals. Carver said air sealed packaging is used to preserve the ingredients. Each meal is essentially ready-to-eat, only needing water to be added.
The lead pastor said volunteers packaged an oatmeal breakfast, including oats and apples among other ingredients.
“All of those things get an exact amount. They get weighed out, sealed and essentially last for months when they arrive on site,” Carver said.
He hopes opportunities like Global Impact Day serve as a catalyst that extend far beyond one day. The ultimate hope is to give people a glimpse into Core Community Church’s vision for the local church, Carver said.
“The local church is supposed to be about so much more than just what happens within four walls. We’re supposed to reach further into our city and our world,” he said.
It also exemplifies the strength of what can be accomplished when individuals work together.
“When we come together and there is 450 of us that come together just doing what we can do, it is a representation of the multiplication effect,” Carver said. “When we all link arms together and just do what we can do, 52,000 meals over the course of two one-hour shifts is what can happen.”