East Catholic High School Partners with Community to Send 45,792 Meals to Local Schools

The following is a press release from East Catholic High School. 

Impacted by the current hunger epidemic around the world, East Catholic High School in Manchester worked with Feeding Children Everywhere to make a difference in the lives of children by packaging 45,792 meals for schools in Africa.   
After attending a Feeding Children Everywhere Hunger Project last fall during a confirmation calss, East Catholic High School sophomore Grace Mazzarella approached the administration at her school to ask about hosting their own event.

Originally, the plan was to have a sophomore class project but when the campus ministry team, Laurie Janecko and John Urbankski, heard about it, they decided they wanted to give all their students this hands-on, on-site service opportunity.  
“We did 24,000 meals and I thought about how many more we could do at a larger community like [East],” she said. “A lot of people are looking forward to doing this and helping out with the world.”

Apart from donations, the event was funded mostly by funds raised by dress-down days, when students could trade their school uniforms for casual clothes for a fee. On Friday, May 3, 2013, 200 students gathered to hand-package healthy lentil casseroles that are specifically formulated to combat the effects of malnutrition and only cost one quarter per meal.

Ingredients of the casserole include lentils, dehydrated vegetables, pink Himalayan salt and rice; making the meal all-natural and a vegetarian option.  Volunteers came together on 14 assembly lines to hand-package the ingredients that will be packaged and shipped to Africa.
 
The event ran on May 3, from 7:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. inside East Catholic High School’s gymnasium, 115 New State Road, Manchester, CT, 06042. For more information, please go to http://www.feedingchildreneverywhere.com/portfolio-items/east-catholic-high-school/ or call 813.389.3178.