Charities seek volunteers for Three Kings Day project

Clean the World and Feeding Children Everywhere are recruiting volunteers for an event Saturday — Three Kings Day — to help Puerto Ricans who have moved to Central Florida following Hurricane Maria.

The two organizations plan to produce 3,000 hygiene kits and 20,000 meals to be distributed to recent transplants.

“These are families who have come … in some cases with just the clothes they had with them,” said Dave Green, CEO of the Longwood-based nonprofit Feeding Children Everywhere. “That’s not enough for a life. We have an opportunity to rally around them on what is a really important holiday in Puerto Rico.”

He’s been meeting with community leaders in recent weeks, including those from Catholic Charities of Central Florida, to determien the extent of the need.

“They’ve seen a spike in the number of people seeking help” attributable to the influx of Puerto Ricans, Green said. “Even if they’re staying with family, if the family doesn’t have a lot of means, how are they going to feed three or four or five additional people?”

Feeding Children Everywhere offers simple plant-based meals, such as red-lentil jambalaya, that can be made by adding water and cooking. Volunteer groups assemble the ingredients and package the mix. Clean the World, based in south Orange County, uses donated soap, shampoo and other personal products — much of it provided by the hotel industry — to make hygiene kits that are shipped all over the world.

The two groups will distribute the meals and kits through other local charities that serve the public directly. About 180 volunteers are needed from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday for the project, which will be at Clean the World headquarters, 2554 E. Landstreet Road, Suite 600, in Orlando.

To sign up to volunteer go to feedingchildreneverywhere.com and click “volunteer opportunities.” If there are any questions, email volunteer@feedingchildren everywhere.com or call 888-891-6447.