Charity seeks volunteers to box food for Puerto Rico,
30K people sought to assemble 4.4M meals in Orlando
When FEMA announced it would need 40 million meals a week for at least the next month to feed hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, Longwood’s Dave Green figured he could pitch in. He just needed to enlist 30,000 or so volunteers.
The CEO of the nonprofit Feeding Children Everywhere, which provides food for hungry people around the globe, is leading “Orlando Cares — Help for Puerto Rico” starting Friday in a cavernous 200,000-square-foot room of the Orange County Convention Center.
The assembly effort will continue seven days a week, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m.-9 p.m. weekends through Nov. 4 — or until 4.4 million meals have been boxed and shipped from Orlando to the island.
“This is one of the largest humanitarian crises we’ve seen and, for our organization, the largest undertaking by far,” Green said. “It’s definitely humbling, and it reminds me that in unity, we do our greatest work.”
Already, 12,000 volunteers have signed up, each for at least one two-hour shift, through the charity’s website — feedingchildreneverywhere.com. The response got a boost Tuesday from “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who gave it a retweet on Twitter.
It’s perhaps the secondlargest meal-packing event ever, behind only a June event in Minnesota that sent nearly 5 million meals to Somalia. Still, it’s only about a tenth of the overall food that the Federal Emergency Management Agency expects to need for the foreseeable future, perhaps as long as six months.
Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, who helped Green set up the event at the convention center in a matter of days, said she is grateful for the outpouring of support for the victims of Hurricane Maria.
Green previously led the delivery of 1.5 million meals for Hurricane Irma victims in Florida and Georgia and 600,000 meals for Hurricane Harvey victims in Texas. Though the charity normally produces a rice, bean and vegetable casserole mix that requires cooking, the hurricane meals are ready-to-eat foods — protein-laden stews, tuna, crackers, canned fruits and other goods that can withstand storage and high temperatures.
Some large corporations — including Bank of America and JetBlue — have offered to provide volunteers, but many of those who have signed up are individuals or small groups.
Nydia Burgos-Ruwe, a youth minister from Cape Canaveral, is bringing 13 middle and high school students after church Sunday to work two shifts. She grew up in Puerto Rico and has family there, but she credits the youth with the idea of volunteering.
“They came to me and wanted to do something — so the big thanks go to them,” she said. “But being here, so far away from the island, it feels wonderful to be able to do something to help.”
To meet FEMA guidelines, Feeding Children Everywhere has enlisted food manufacturers to supply the nonperishable entrees and snacks that provide a range of nutrients. Volunteers will sort the bulk shipments of goods and divvy them into individual meal boxes that will be sent to Jacksonville. From there, the food will be shipped to FEMA in Puerto Rico.
The effort will cost the charity more than $220,000 up front, including a heavily discounted rate for the convention space, but Green said FEMA should reimburse the expense by year’s end.
“There’s a little bit of risk for us,” he said. “But this is why we exist — and we certainly think it’s worth it.”