Haiti Packing Event

In September, 2013, Kids Against Hunger-Verde Valley 8pallets of food (79,920 pre-packaged meals) to Haiti -- food that was packaged at numerous events here.   Along with this food, Kids Against Hunger also shipped 2 pallets of the supplies needed for the people of Haiti to hold their own packing event of 10,000 meals, to provide for themselves and their neighbors.   Among the items shipped were bags of soy, boxes of the vitamin and vegetable mixes, Ziploc bags to hold the food, as well as the bins, utensils and funnel used to package the food.  Rice was not shipped with these supplies for the specific purpose of stimulating Haiti's economy, as their rice farms are also returning.  The rice for this packing event was purchased locally from Haitian farms, to aid in self sufficiency and to aid Haiti's economy.   

Their first food packing event was held recently. Josh, in Haiti, writes the following regarding the food they are receiving and their packing event: 

"The nutrition program is going along wonderfully. We feed about 100 kids a day; and new kids are still being admitted as the needs arise. Of the kids currently in the program, they are all at a healthy weight as well as healthy hemoglobin levels (this compared to three years ago when about 90% of the kids were below weight and hemoglobin levels). Some of the kids are getting fed twice a day depending on what kind of nutritional support they are receiving at home. The food they receive each day comes solely from Kids Against Hunger food shipments, without which we would be unable to continue with the program. There are also a couple orphanages in Gonaives that we give boxes to as well.  Those orphanages contact us if their food supply is low or they did not have the funds to cover food for the month.  In essence, the Kids Against Hunger rice serves as an emergency aid to these orphanages.

We also just finished a trial run at packaging rice here in Haiti using the bulk supplies sent down with the last shipment. We had a team come in from Colorado that did the packaging; and the rice used was locally grown rice. We will continue to use these bags the same way we've used the other packages -- the only difference being that the rice was purchased locally.  In terms of the packaging process, I don't think it holds any benefit to it being packaged in Haiti or Arizona. We had hoped that it may create job opportunities by having it done in Haiti; but I believe it would not be a consistent enough or long enough of a task for a work force to actually develop around the packaging.  From the bulk supplies sent, the most exciting part was being able to invest in the local economy by purchasing rice here.  Obviously, a plate of rice is not going to do much for the overall nutrition of a child; so it's been essential that the other supplies are added to get the kiddos what they need."

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