By Margaret Yapp
Little Hawk Staff Reporter
Weekends at City High normally are a break from the frenzied weekdays, but on February 27th the usually empty gym was taken over by hair nets and plastic aprons as Iowa City volunteers packaged meals for earthquake victims in Haiti. Francesca Lubecki-Wilde ’13 organized the event with Outreach International.
“Outreach International is an Iowa based nonprofit organization,” Francesca said. “I’ve worked with them before and it’s a really great way to give back.”
Francesca had been planning the day for several months, and the recent earthquake in Haiti made the decision where to send the food an easy one.
“The situation in Haiti really hit me hard and I knew I wanted to help,” Francesca said.
“The food packaging is a two part process,” Tamara Wilde, volunteer and mother of Francesca, explained. “The first step is raising money through donations and fundraising, the second step is packaging.”
City High raised over $4000 through donations and fundraising, and with meals costing 25 cents each, because of the self packaging, volunteers packaged 16,000 meals for victims in Haiti. The meals consist of soy, dehydrated vegetables, vitamins and rice. After the bags are filled they are sealed with heat and packaged 32 to each box.
“We’re making an assembly line,” Molly Powell-Littler ’13 said. “The bag is put under a funnel and filled with food, then passed down and weighed to make sure it is the right weight, then sealed.”
The process took around three hours to complete. Volunteers persevered keeping one motto in mind.
Everyone can make a difference, no matter how big or small.
