Two youth groups pack 28,000 meals in an hour

How are 28,000 meals packed in an hour? Ask two local youth groups.

The youth groups of Lake Valley Community Church and First Baptist Church partnered with food-distributing nonprofit The Pack Shack to pack 28,000 meals for food-insecure children in Garland County on Saturday. The meals, which will be distributed through local school districts, were all prepared by the youths from 1:15-2:15 p.m. that day.

The hour of meal preparation was part of the youth groups' Disciple Now weekend, "Transform," which focuses on Christian discipleship. First Baptist Youth Pastor Bill Newton said his youth group got the idea of partnering with The Pack Shack after spending time with them at a summer camp in 2016 and 2017.

"Some years, for 'Transform,' we try to do a mission element," First Baptist youth pastor Bill Newton said. "We thought (meal preparation) would be a great mission element to bring in, because all of the food goes back to the community."

First Baptist partnered with Lake Valley, which was also planning on holding a Disciple Now weekend for its youth group. The two youth groups totaled 150 students for the weekend and brought in 42 college-aged and adult leaders.

The meals that were prepared Saturday will be distributed to Hot Springs, Lakeside, Fountain Lake, Cutter Morning Star and Mountain Pine schools through the districts' backpack programs. Project supervisor Gary Beckwith said Lake Hamilton was not included because its backpack program prepares its meals in-house.

Beckwith said the 28,000 figure came from the number of students that receive free lunches within each school district.

"I'm a believer in missions, period, but I think that this is a way for teenagers to give back to their local community," Beckwith said.

With the instruction of Pack Shack employees, the youth groups met inside of First Baptist Church and created a sort of factory that assembled and packaged the meals in an hour's time. The meals were comprised of ingredients like dried vegetables, rice and flour.

The 28,000 meals cost $7,000, Beckwith said. He also noted the project's cost was funded by First Security Bank, Allen Tillery Chevrolet and Horns Outdoor.

Newton was pleased with the youth groups' civic engagement.

"It's a great event," Newton said. "You're talking about an hour, hour and 15 minutes, they're gonna do 28,000 meals, and all 28,000 meals are gonna be distributed among the schools in the county? That's incredible."

Local on 11/20/2017

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