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Volunteers gather in Elkhorn to package meals for Haiti

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Making Meals for Haiti in Elkhorn

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Tyson J. Ray

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Jenny M. Ray

ELKHORN — Hundreds came to the Lakeland School gym Saturday. Their goal: Fill thousands of empty bellies in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The goal was to package 150,000 meals for Haiti.

More than 450 people signed up to help. They filled packets with a blend of soy protein, rice, dried vegetables and a flavor-vitamin powder. The recipe is designed to reverse the starvation. Just add boiling water.

Children’s World Impact organized Saturday’s event. Tyson and Jenny Ray of Elkhorn founded the organization in 2006.

Both Rays have visited Haiti and seen the need. They were there Saturday, energetically organizing the work

The volunteers were divided into three shifts through the day.

Taylor Ehle, a Clinton High School junior, said she had been helping since 5:30 a.m. and would probably stay for all three shifts.

Ehle said she learned about Haiti during a school fundraiser last year.

“We think we have it so rough over here,” Ehle said. “We get five Christmas presents and we complain. And they don’t even get meals at night. I go to bed every single night knowing I’m going to get a huge breakfast in the morning, and they don’t get that.”

The Lakeland School gym was full of hustle and bustle, full of people from very young to very old, black and white, with big, strong hands and tiny, delicate hands. One family came all the way from Stoughton. Like many, they had heard about it at church.

“All these people coming to help these kids—it touches my heart,” Ehle said.

“It kind of puts you in the true holiday spirit,” added Matt Landgraf of Delavan, who said his family decided to help.

“This is our Christmas commitment,” Landgraf said.

The Rays set up their own foundation after being frustrated by established aid groups.

“We were tired of giving money and finding the money was going to cars and infrastructure and other things,” rather than for direct relief, Tyson said.

Tyson traveled to Haiti in 2009 and forged links to aid organizations he could work with. Then on Jan. 12, 2010, the earthquake hit, leaving more than 2 million people homeless.

Jenny visited Haiti in April. Tyson said she saw a 3-year-old boy who had apparently been wandering, eating garbage, for three months before an orphanage took him in. She saw a mother making a mud cookie for her baby.

The Rays teamed up with Kids Around the World of Rockford, Ill., a faith-based organization that builds playgrounds and feeds the hungry. Kids Around the World got the recipe and buys the ingredients for the food packets from Kids Against Hunger.

Kids Against Hunger-Rock County Rotary has organized similar but smaller events.

“They are an amazing couple, hearts as big as they come.” Mike Young of Kids Around the World said of the Rays.

With $25,000 that the Rays had contributed to their foundation and money collected in the community, they recently organized their first food-packing event at a church in Williams Bay. It sent 60,000 meals to Haiti. Tyson said he’s planning more packaging events with the goal of 1 million meals by May.

Bulk purchases and volunteer labor keep the price of each meal at 25 cents. One bag makes six cups, one cup per meal. Two cups a day will reverse the process of starvation for a child, Tyson said. “It’s life-changing food.”

As the volunteers completed each boxful, they let out a collective whoop. It was a signal that the box was ready to be sealed and loaded. And it was a cry of joy for more children who wouldn’t go to sleep hungry.

Money is still needed, and it keeps coming. On Saturday, Tyson said a young boy pressed a dollar bill into his hand. Four more meals. Someone gave him a $10,000 check. That’s 40,000 meals.

“It’s not sitting in a warehouse,” Tyson said. “It’s not going to the rich. It’s going to people standing in food lines, fighting to get their one meal for the day.”

The work was tedious, but the workers were joyful, whooping with glee as they progressed through the morning.

“You wonder who opens the bags,” said Marta Schnake of Williams Bay. “A whole different story, those lives.”

TO HELP

To learn how to make a tax-deductible contribution for the needy in Haiti through the Elkhorn-based Children’s World Impact, go online to childrensworldimpact.org or send an e-mail to tyson@chil drensworldimpact.org. Or, send a check to Children’s World Impact, N7176 Lakeshore Ave., Elkhorn, WI 53121.

A group that does similar food packaging for people around the world is Kids Against Hunger-Rock County Rotary care of 4237 N. County KK, Milton, WI 53563, or go to rotarykidsagainsthunger.org.