Stuffin' Food Sacks--Razorback Relief

There is a sack stuffing event going on here in Fayetteville for 24 hours. It started last night at 7. There are several organizations combining their efforts to prepare and send 2,000,000 sacks of food to Haiti. Each sack will feed six people. It is a very simple process and the camaraderie of the ten folks working together at each table is fabulous; young, old, fast, slow and everywhere in-between working in some sort of precision to stuff the sacks and keep the passion burnin'.

As I walked from my car at 7 last night, when the event started, I was a little uneasy and apprehensive, but I looked around and there were lots of other folks coming in; some in groups, couples and loners...but all coming, all working for the elimination of suffering, even if only for a little while. It was a wonderful experience.

I entered the building, got my apron and hairnet and waited on the bleachers for the formation of the next group of ten to be taken to the assembly area, I did not wait long! in the background you can see the 75 tables and all the folks already busy.


Everyone was working...even the Razorback Mascots!
This was my table. Four items grain, soy beans, rice and a powder of flavor and vitamins. All go into a sack, then get weighed and passed on to the sealing machines. When the white plastic with 18 boxes outlined on it, gets filled, they go into a box; add another layer and the box gets sealed. Then over again and again!

Hey lady...you sealin' that bag right?


I'm heading back today for another few hours.
I got a couple of more shots
This is the infamous bag that holds enough for six meals. It is amazing how rice and beans expand...if you look at the ingredients and nutrition section it is surprisingly complete.
Here is our master packer on Saturday..the guy was awesome!
We all had a great time!

Oh, we also broke a world record for meal packing. In the 24 hour period that was allotted to this event 1.4 million meals were packed! Hip, Hip, Hooray!