How do you prepare and package 10,000 meals in one day? With determination, teamwork, and school spirit.

For a second year, the Holden Christian Academy transformed its gym into a USDA-approved packing facility to assemble and prepare meals that will be sent halfway around the world. The Packing Party involved the entire school from pre-k to kindergarteners to eighth graders, teachers, administrative staff, and parents.

Prior to the launch day and setting the stage for this teamwork, homerooms had combined little ones with the older students so they could get to know each other. Then starting the morning of Feed the Need, teams were formed combining all the volunteers: fifth graders worked next to kindergarteners who worked next to grandparent volunteers.

Gloved and hair-netted, each team member was assigned a task to scoop or measure or add ingredients into the special plastic bags that were heat sealed at the end of the assembly line and then seals were double-checked for safety.

On the line, students called on math skills as they verified weights of each ingredient, adding or subtracting rice or lentil beans or spices.

Once sealed, the bags were placed into shipping boxes that will eventually make their way to a refugee camp in Bangladesh. 

“It’s really cool – it’s awesome to help people across the world in Asia,” said seventh grader Jacen Morales of Holden. He said that his grade has been studying the people, customs, and geography of Bangladesh prior to the event.

Nikki Cleveland, the academy’s principal, explained that last year, trying to make a positive local impact, they had offered the meals to a Worcester nonprofit that assists Kurdish refugees. However, the meals are not halal, which means they do not meet preparation standards under Islamic law. Cleveland said that the meal manufacturer is looking to attain that designation, but it is a process.

With energetic music blaring in the gymnasium, groups laughing and encouraging each other at the prep stations, teams packed meals that will be sent across the world.

“I really like this fundraiser because it’s more impactful,” explained Morales. “It’s not an inner thing that the school does - we’ve expanded globally beyond the school and are helping people who are less fortunate.”