Yesterday I spent the day volunteering at a Numana event to measure out beans, rice, soy and nutrient packets, bag them up and seal them into packages that will feed a nutritious meal to a starving family of 6.  Thoughout the day there were over 1,000 volunteers that came through working from 1 hour to all day.  People of all ages were able to help.  There were even young children who decorated the boxes with thier colorful artwork or patted the packets down flat for shipping.  There were those who finished their 5 shipping boxes in 35 minutes and some who took over an hour.  There were so many families that came to volunteer together and it really warmed my heart to see such a thing.  There were groups of young people who came, too.  Boy Scouts, Confirmation kids, a basketball team, and other groups of firends that came to be a part of the giving.  There was one high school boy from our church that showed up at 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM!  Everyone worked hard at it, yet went away happy and satisfied.  Our food is headed to Haiti through the Salvation Army.

The people from Numana trained us "Green Shirts" the night before.  Explaining the importance of making sure the ingredients are packaged correctly so each one has the right nutrients and size to ship properly.  But they also insisted we keep it fun and value each participant's work.  That was easy to do since everyone came with such a giving heart!  They played fun Caribbean music all day and banged a big gong to announce packing milestones.  It was a HUGE amount of work for Heather, who orgainzed the whole thing locally, but very well-run.

Check out the Numana website.  What a beautiful organization!