This past Saturday morning, January 21, the students, faculty and staff of Blue Ridge School once again partnered with Stop Hunger Now to pack 10,000 meals to feed the hungry in Honduras. Blue Ridge has joined this organization in not only raising awareness of world hunger but actually doing something about it for the past eight years.

These meals encourage attendance at school among Honduran children as it is often the only meal available to them that day. Stop Hunger Now is an international hunger relief agency based in Raleigh, Virginia. The organization has coordinated the distribution of food and other lifesaving aid to children and their families all over the world for nineteen years.

Each package prepared by a team of students contains one meal consisting of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a flavoring mix including twenty-one essential vitamins and minerals. These meal packages are shipped around the world to support school programs and crisis relief. The food stores easily, transports quickly and has a shelf life of five years.

The total amount needed to purchase the ingredients for 10,000 meals is $2,900. Blue Ridge School pays for the ingredients by way of saving money in the dining hall for one week. This includes having only soup instead of a regular lunch menu for a day and not eating desserts for the entire week. For videos of the students packing, click here.