Union Academy Service Day: Rice Packing for Nicaragua

All 1400 Union Academy K-12 students and staff members gathered at the Upper Campus on Wednesday, March 23rd to pack over 50,000 meals for malnourished children and their families in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. The meal packing effort at the school was coordinated through Servants with a Heart, a non-profit organization founded in 2011 by husband and wife team, Jeff and Suzanne Yoh, who wanted to serve others together with their three adult children.
“Our mission is to feed hungry families in Charlotte and around the world by equipping organizations to host meal packing events,” said Suzanne Yoh. “Our food is primarily shipped and distributed to families in Nicaragua through our partnership with the Perry Brown Family and their nonprofit, Samaritans International. We also work with local Charlotte organizations to distribute food to local families.”
Wednesday’s rice packing event was the second for Union Academy. The school also helped the organization in April 2014 to meet its five year goal of packing its 10 millionth meal by the first week in July 2016.
“Union Academy’s mission is all about challenge, character and community. The rice packing event supports all three of these,” said Ann Walters, Union Academy headmaster. "It’s a great opportunity for our kids to not only learn about poverty, but to also participate in an effort to benefit those who suffer from it on a daily basis.”
Students, who are divided into “families” made up of elementary, middle and high school students, made three rotations during the half-day event. One rotation taught them about the culture and need that exists in Nicaragua, another gave them an opportunity to taste the meals they were packing and decorate the packing boxes, and a third provided participation in the actual rice packing assembly lines. Union Academy school counselor Kelly Brun said, “Our hope is that our students will learn that it feels good to give back and we hope that feeling stays with them and leads to a lifetime of serving their communities. Each meal we packed today goes directly from our kids’ hands to the hands of starving kids in Nicaragua.”
Article by Luan Ingram

Click here for an article published in the Union Weekly about the event.