48,012 meals packaged and headed to Ukraine

Last Saturday’s 7th annual meal packaging event at St. Francis Xavier School in Buffalo was a huge success, exceeding expectations by 8,000 meals.

A spokesperson for the event, Randy Bunting, who is a member at St. Francis, stated “our goal was 40,000 meals packaged this year; in 2023 we did around 35,000.

On Monday, Bunting sent an email stating the actual 2024 number was 48,012 versus 35,640 in 2023 - a 35% increase!

All 48,012 meals processed last Saturday are headed to Ukraine. Last year’s meals also went to Ukraine.

Each meal package contains four ingredients: dried soybeans, rice, chicken powder and dried vegetables.  When mixed with hot water, it becomes a delicious tasting meal full of nutrients. This reporter tested a small sample and can verify its good flavor!

According to Bunting, 214 volunteers showed up last Saturday, with 25% of them first-timers.

He wanted to thank all those who helped package and donated money to purchase ingredients towards the 48,012 meals.

A single package contains six meals with 36 packages or 216 dinners per box. Each meal costs roughly 23 cents, according to Jeff Boyum, a representative of LifeRice, which supplied the food for packaging. LifeRice, a Cambridge, MN company, has a slogan on each box that says, “United to End World Hunger.”

Based on 48,012 meals at 23 cents per serving, Saturday’s packaging event cost just over $11,000.00. Randy Bunting explained the event is completely self-funded thru churches, various organizations, companies, and individuals. Bunting further stated, “St. Francis Xavier and LifeRice’s goal is to provide this meal packing service opportunity event locally for the whole community including church groups, school kids, and National Honor Society members.”

Plans are already underway for next year’s 8th Annual scheduled for the first Saturday in February.