Yakima Herald-Republic Online

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Forget 5,000.

These volunteers far surpassed that Saturday at Mount Olive Lutheran Church's Feed the 5,000 food drive.

They ended up buying, bagging and boxing 60,000 meals to ship to missions in Africa and the Dominican Republic.

"It was through God's help we were able to do so much," said Shereen Stocker, coordinator of the effort's second year. "Jesus was able to feed 5,000, and through God's help we were able to feed 60,000."

The 160 volunteers went way beyond the project's namesake, taken from the Gospel story of Jesus feeding 5,000 of his followers with only five loaves of bread and two fish on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

The meals of rice, lentils, dehydrated vegetables and dehydrated chicken broth fortified with multivitamins will go to Children of the Nations, a Silverdale, Wash.-based nonprofit that operates schools and orphanages in Uganda, Malawai, Sierre Leone and the Dominican Republic.

Children of the Nations organized the packaging, but church volunteers raised the $14,700 to purchase the meals at 25 cents each. The nonprofit kicked in the remaining $300.

"We are just so overwhelmed," Stocker siad in a prayer to kick off the afternoon shift of volunteer work.

Then, the volunteers began bagging in well-oiled assembly-line fashion.

"Lentils, spice, chicken, rice" was the order called out by Children of the Nations staff.

Baggers caught the victuals below a funnel, scale operators double-checked the weight, and runners carried them to the sealers before boxers loaded them.

Each bag had to weigh between 390 and 400 grams to simplify shipping.

"Math is a big part of this job," said Fraser Ratzlaff, the group's Seattle feeding coordinator.

The church volunteers held the effort last year, shooting for 5,000 meals to match the Gospel story. They ended up with 35,000. This year, they aimed for 50,000 and passed it.

One of the excited volunteers scrawled "Yakima Feeds 60,000" on stacked boxes during a break.

Mount Olive is Children of the Nation's third-largest "feeding site," said Dave Spoon, the group's feeding director. It sent a million meals overseas last year.

Only about 40 percent of the volunteers are church members, Stocker said. Helpers also came from civic groups such as Rotary, Soroptimist and Kiwanis.

Almost all the volunteers called the work fun.

"I just came because it sounded like a lot of fun," said Caleb Garland, 12, as he weighed bags filled by his grandparents, who are church members.

Valerie Barnett, a teacher at West Valley High School, brought four students from a Rotary program, as well as two of her own children, ages 5 and 8.

"This is great fun," she said as she directed a few kids through one of the bagging stations.

"Is it supposed to be 700?" asked Isabella Bliss, 8, looking quizzically at the scale.

Barnett scampered over to help her.

Judy Bradford and six of her Soroptimist friends worked a bagging station with Clarence Haupt, who they called a "Soroptimister." The women used it for the monthly service project encouraged by their organization.

"This is fun," Bradford said. "We did it last year, too. It just feels good doing something for someone else."

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.

Feeding Figures

Feeding of the 60,000

Who: Mount Olive Lutheran Church volunteers

When: April 25, 2009

Where: Mount Olive Lutheran Church, 7809 Tieton Drive

Meals: 60,000

Cost: $15,000

Cost per meal: 25 cents

Mission countries: 4

Boxes: 278