Minn. unit pitches in for African hunger relief food-packing campaign

 

 

(1)
Viking Composite Squadron members fill food bags.

(2)
Busy workers are happy workers.

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Squadron members and community volunteers work side-by-side.

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Maj. Terry Dull (center), the squadron’s character development officer, gives pointers on how the bag-filling process works. Dull was instrumental in arranging for the unit’s participation in the effort.

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The Viking Composite contingent that participated in the food-packing effort.


1st Lt. Erik J. Lindquist
Public Affairs Officer
Viking Composite Squadron
Minnesota Wing

MINNESOTA -- Members of the Viking Composite Squadron teamed up with other community volunteers over the weekend to support the Hunger Initiative organization and its effort to pack bags of food for hunger relief in Africa.

Nationwide, the Hunger Initiative’s goal for the January campaign is to pack more than 1 million meals – enough to feed more than 3,000 children in Dondo, Mozambique, for an entire year.

Locally, squadron members working in two-hour shifts alongside other community volunteers packaged 50,000 bags of food. Each held six meals containing a unique nutritional formula developed by food scientists -- including easily digestible protein, carbohydrates and vitamins – and consisting of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and 21 vitamins and minerals. 

The event organizers had cooked samples on hand for volunteers to try, and Viking squadron members were surprised at how good the meal actually tasted. 

The event enabled the Civil Air Patrol members not only to participate in an important volunteer effort addressing a need made even more prominent by the recent suffering and loss of life in Haiti, but also to raise the organization’s profile among their fellow community volunteers.