Vance volunteers prepare 28,860 food packages for Kids Against Hunger

  • Published
  • By Joe B. Wiles
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Vance volunteers prepared almost 29,000 meal packages that can feed six people each during a Kids Against Hunger event April 7 in the Community Chapel Activity Center on base.

It was the second time this year the Cherokee, Okla., satellite office of the national organization held a packing event at Vance.

Jaime Kovanda and her husband, Tech. Sgt. Joshua Kovanda, the NCOIC of the 71st Medical Support Squadron's Medical Logistics Flight, worked with Shelly and Monte Stewart at the Cherokee office to arrange the meal packing in the CCAC.

The KAH meal packages were assembled by 52 Vance volunteers, ranging from young family members to base civilians, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The goal was 25,000 meal packages, but at the end of the day there were 28,860 completed.

"Each package contains rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a vitamin and mineral powder," said Mrs. Stewart, the co-director of the Cherokee office. The packages are prepared in assembly-line fashion.
 
"We add the rice last so the volunteer can add or subtract to keep the weight between 390 and 400 grams," said Mrs. Stewart. That ensures the contents are nutritionally balanced. Each package has a three-year shelf life.

To prepare the meals for eating, the content of the package is boiled in six cups of water for 20 minutes and will feed a quality meal to six people, said Mrs. Stewart.

The Kovandas first connected with the Kids Against Hunger Cherokee office when Mrs. Kovanda took a field trip there with her home-school group to help package food.

Since the Cherokee office opened in an old bowling alley Dec. 15, 2007, 1.6 million meal packages have been prepared, both there and through off-site events.

KAH operates solely on donations and volunteer help. "It costs $1.50 to prepare a meal package that feeds six," said Mrs. Kovanda. The packages prepared at Vance will cost $7,215 to deliver to the hungry in locations around the world, she said.

Some of the food packages prepared through the Cherokee office are currently scheduled for delivery to Haiti, Zimbabwe and an orphanage in Liberia.