Packing Hope

The annual Packing Hope program at St. Elizabeth Seton Elementary School, Rapid City, took place in March. Administrators at the Rapid City Catholic School System started working with Packing Hope to answer Christ’s call to bring hope to the poor and vulnerable. Each student, grades pre-k through high school, was asked to donate $30 to help pay for the meals. The younger kids are encouraged to work at home to earn the money they donate. In addition to the donation, the students also spoke and collected donations at local parishes.

The meal packs are specially formulated by food scientists to provide a well-balanced meal of easily digestible proteins, vegetables, carbohydrates, and twenty-one vitamins and minerals ideal for meeting the specific nutritional and developmental needs of those who are malnourished. The food packs have a shelf life of three years, contain six meals, and require only boiling water for preparation. 

This year, food will be going to the southern border, Honduras, and Sudan.

The RCCSS has been working with “Then Feed Just One” since 2007 when Richard Sievert and his brother Francis Sievert traveled to Rapid City to share their program with the RCCSS faculty and students. Within weeks of their presentation, a team consisting of admin, teachers, and students was assembled and traveled to LeMars, Iowa, to witness a packing event. The following year, the RCCSS K-12th graders raised the necessary funds, TFJO hauled the bulk ingredients and equipment to Rapid City, and held the first packing event. TFJO (https://www.thenfeedjustone.org) is a non-profit, mobile-food-packing organization that distributes highly nutritious food to those suffering from hunger and malnutrition in Honduras and around the world.