By Eliza PARTIKA

For the second consecutive year, students, community members and members of the Salem Lutheran Church partnered with Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), an Arizona-based non-profit, to pack meals for hungry families around the world. 

During their two-hour shift on Saturday, 112 volunteers from across Southern California, and even some from out of state, joined Glendale community members to pack 25,704 meals – enough for 70 children to have a meal a day for a year. On Friday, Salem Lutheran Church students (T-K through eighth grade), teachers and parents packed a total of 89 boxes (3,204 meal packs) and Incarnation Catholic School middle-schoolers packed 77 boxes. With chapel offerings, the children at Salem Lutheran school raised around $7,000 to purchase food ingredients and supplies. 

Amie Odahl, pastor at Salem Lutheran, first discovered Feed My Starving Children when living in her Minnesota hometown. When she moved to California and realized there were not many mobile packing opportunities – called MobilePacks – in the state, she decided to start one of her own. Inspired by FMSC’s mission to “feed God’s children who are hungry in body and spirit,” she partnered with them to host their first MobilePack. Now in her second year as host, Odahl still can’t believe the impact it has. 

“It takes $106 to feed a person for a whole year. We think about a family of four going out for dinner and it costs that much for one meal. It is eye-opening to see,” she said.  

The meals consist of a specially created formula of rice, soy, dried vegetables, and vitamins to ensure maximum nutrition. Volunteers work in teams of 10 to fill “MannaPack” plastic bags with enough grains for approximately six servings then weigh and seal them. The FMSC staff brings all the supplies needed to pack the meals. The completed meal packs are loaded onto a semi truck and taken back to the home location in Tempe, Arizona. There the meals will be sent overseas and to areas of great need in the United States. To date, in 2025 FMSC has distributed food to over 42 countries. 

Hundreds of MobilePack events are held across the country each year. And the work pays off – in the past year alone, FMSC raised $35,000 to purchase the ingredients to pack 116,000 meals. The food is distributed free of cost to non-government partners in other countries. Last year, the 100,000 meals Salem Lutheran packed were sent to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. 

Glendale Assistance League joined the volunteering efforts this year. Member Cynthia Durand said she and her daughter, who attends Salem Lutheran School, volunteered for a second year in a row because of how everyone comes together to help others. 

“We have so much fun and the story of the organization, why we are doing this, meeting others from across the state and country – a lot of people get excited,” Durand said. 

Karen Josephson, volunteer coordinator for the MobilePack event and longtime member of Salem Lutheran, said her biggest pleasure is seeing the kids’ faces light up when they realize who their work is going to help. 

“We’re helping plant these seeds in these young children so they can make a difference in this world,” she said. 

Odahl and her family traveled to Haiti where she has seen what a difference the food makes for those who receive it. 

“Clay is made into cookies [there]; the mothers would just take the dirt off the ground and make cookies to feed their children, just to fill their bellies, because they don’t have food. Now we are able to provide that food so they aren’t starving but thriving,” Odahl said. 

While FMSC sees great impact both locally and across the globe, Dana Kimmelmann, MobilePack supervisor for Feed My Starving Children’s Arizona office, said the fully donor-funded operation is always looking for more help during the year it takes to plan and organize each MobilePack. 

“It takes so many different groups of people to make this happen. We need hosts. We need donors to cover the cost of the ingredients. We need folks who are willing to do the hard work and organize logistics, we need volunteers to come and pack meals,” Kimmelmann said. 

Barbara Denton, a member at Salem Lutheran for 30 years, participated in last year’s MobilePack and helped coordinate this year’s MobilePack. She encouraged the community to donate its time to somewhere it can make a difference. 

“People want to be able to do something. We feel so helpless in this world; all these terrible things are happening that we don’t have any control over. Here’s a tangible thing people can do that makes a change in the world,” she said. 

“Get the word out, share in your passion. Invest where you are planted. I believe God puts us in our communities, in our jobs, in our families for a reason. It’s easy to get discouraged with the mundane and think you have to be doing something great. Invest in the person next to you,” Kimmelmann said. 

Community members wishing to know more can go to the Feed My Starving Children website at https://www.fmsc.org/. For those wishing to donate to Salem Lutheran’s MobilePack, visit https://www.fmsc.org/ways-to-give/donate-to-a-MobilePack.