By Joe Winter
Catholic Herald correspondent

Hudson students help feed the hungry

HUDSON -- Eighth graders at St. Patrick School have joined the effort to aid the Feed My Starving Children organization in the Twin Cities for several years.

It started as a service project for that grade during the annual observance of Catholic Schools Week, but the interest has been so strong that it now is done at the sixth-grade level, as well.

Many sixth graders have said they are eager for the opportunity to do the service project again two years from now, as well. Most of the effort involves packaging foodstuffs at facilities in Brooklyn Park. Minn., and Eagan, Minn., that go to impoverished countries overseas, in this case mostly to Haiti.

Two groups that consisted of 49 total students traveled to the Eagan facility late in October, one on a Wednesday and one on a Friday. Once there, they did work on what was essentially an assembly line for more than two hours during the morning.

"I didn't know that this many people die every day (of starvation)," said student Michael Volk. "It makes me kind of sad."

The food mix consisted of four different scoops, which included vitamins with a food sauce, dried vegetables and rice. Volunteers were encouraged to get the proportions just right by weighing with scales, and if the respective amounts placed into the packets turned out to be unbalanced, rice was added to make the mix correct.

The students tried the mix and thought it tasted good, teacher Elaine Weinkam said. "It was difficult to be standing that long (while packaging), but it allowed them to see what their counterparts are going through. It was a humbling experience."

The students did well in staying on task, Weinkam said. After the packages were sealed, they were marked as having been completed by volunteers from St. Patrick, which made it even more meaningful for the students -- and gave the project an impact that stuck with them after they got home. "They helped witness the actual product being made and being put on the pallet," Weinkam said.

She added that the facility was well run, and that paper towels and liquid soap were plentifully provided to maintain a clean environment. Brooms were used to brush the floor and counter since, if even a single grain of rice would stick to the packages, it could be smelled by mice after being delivered. The vermin then might chew and ruin the whole package.

One meal can serve six people, and the students packaged more than 6,000 meals, Weinkam said.

The group also was shown an educational video, which they found overwhelming when it revealed the need and numbers of starving people around the world. It also told them that there is a difference between being hungry and starving.

The students were asked the category into which they fall at certain times when they get home from school. Most of them picked "starving," according to a parent, Mary Kay Wusterbarth.

The educational portion gave them a different picture. "When you're starving, you don't feel and realize that you are hungry anymore," Weinkam said. "It is a condition of dying."

Despite the enormous need they encountered, the students left with smiles on their faces because of the difference they knew they had made.

Ellie Berg said she enjoyed watching the packaging process take place, and that the work was fun and never got tiring. She added that the point hits home that people in the United States are luckier than some others.

Caitlin O'Brien said it helped to know that people who are very poor are being aided by her work and that of her fellow students.

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2004