Medina Presbyterian Church packs 25,000 meals for those in need

MEDINA — Members of all ages from Medina Presbyterian Church helped pack 25,000 meals on Sunday to support Rise Against Hunger's mission of feeding hungry people across the globe. Henry Pearce is the pastor at Medina Presbyterian Church. He said the meal packing tradition started 10 years ago when the church was looking for a way to celebrate its 30th anniversary. "We were looking for something that we could do that is intergenerational and that would be a service project that we'd all work on together," he said. "Our denomination's daily devotional actually had two days in a row where we talked about events like this, and we said 'That looks perfect." The first year the church packed 10,000 meals, and the number of meals has steadily increased to 25,000, Pearce said. The church makes and sells homemade candy around Christmas and Easter to raise the money needed to pack the meals. "There's a joy about this that's quite contagious," he said. "People really enjoy being together and working together." Volunteers formed an assembly line where they put a vitamin packet, dehydrated vegetables, soy and rice in a bag. The bag was then weighed and sealed to later be distributed to communities facing food insecurity or a crisis like a natural disaster. "It's something we do together, so everything that we do to serve together is valuable to us," Pearce said. "We have a commitment that we want to serve locally, nationally and globally. This is sort of our global program for the year." He said the initiative is consistent with the church's vision of serving others like Jesus. "Sometimes it's a miserable experience of wallowing in sin. It's a joyful experience serving with Jesus," Pearce said. "He said to his disciples, 'You feed them." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.