{"id":198846,"date":"2025-10-27T20:42:44","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T01:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=198846"},"modified":"2025-10-27T20:42:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T01:42:46","slug":"church-seeking-help-packing-meals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/10\/27\/church-seeking-help-packing-meals\/","title":{"rendered":"Church seeking help packing meals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VW independent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First United Methodist Church is issuing a critical call to action for the Van Wert area and surrounding communities, families and local businesses to help pack life-saving rice meals for the people of Haiti. This event will be held from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, November 22, at the Goedde Building Gym, located on W. Crawford St., Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis effort is exceptionally urgent, as escalating gang violence has plunged Haiti into a crisis believed to be larger and more devastating than the 2010 earthquake,\u201d Director of Outreach Teresa Shaffer said. \u201cA State of Emergency has been declared as the nation faces surging kidnappings, murder, and starvation. FUMC feels that God has positioned us \u2018or such a time as this\u2019 to serve our brothers and sisters who are in desperate situations\u2014people who are starving, being murdered, unable to get medical care, or denied an education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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The resulting meals are nutritionally packed, containing rice, a dehydrated vegetable blend, vegetable protein powder, and vitamin powder with 21 essential nutrients. They will be distributed through Mission of Hope, which has a proven 26-year distribution and ministry model that successfully reaches over 500 schools and orphanages in Haiti, even amidst the traumatic events on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community Rice Meal Packing event is a hands-on, three-hour volunteer effort that welcomes all ages to join. Volunteers will receive instruction on how to pack the meals efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe output is truly jaw-dropping when the gym is filled with busy tables,\u201d Shaffer said. \u201cWe encourage you to bring your friends, family, and co-workers; students can also receive documentation of their service hours for participation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pre-registration is highly suggested to ensure enough stations and supplies are prepared. A suggested donation of $20 per person ($50 per family) is requested to cover the expense of the meal ingredients and shipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sign up instantly using this link: https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/ricepack<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For alternative sign-up methods or for questions, contact Shaffer at 419.238.0631 ext 307 or send an email to teresa.shaffer@vanwertfirst.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VW independent staff\/submitted information First United Methodist Church is issuing a critical call to action for the Van Wert area and surrounding communities, families and local businesses to help pack life-saving rice meals for the people of Haiti. This event will be held from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, November 22, at the Goedde […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 11:59:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198848,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198846\/revisions\/198848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}