UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The inaugural “Lake County CAN!” food drive entered its final phase on Friday, when volunteers gathered to prepare food and supplies at a packing event at the Upper Lake United Methodist Church.
Close to 200 volunteers – clad in bright red Lake County CAN! t-shirts – created a swirling bustle of perpetual motion as they sorted and packed food.
Other community members stopped in to donate bags of canned goods and prepared meals.
The effort Friday night gave rise to several “loaves and fishes” moments, as it became clear how generous the community had been in its donations for those in need both here and overseas.
One group of volunteers used the donations to rapidly fill boxes, backpacks and hygiene bags in the church sanctuary.
The food they sorted and boxed will be used to stock the seven Methodist Church food pantries around Lake County, supply backpacks to local schoolchildren who don’t have access to food on the weekends and provide women at Freedom House domestic violence shelter with hygiene items.
A large group in another part of the church packed 10,000 meals to ship overseas.
It took the second group of volunteers about a half hour to pack the first 1,000 meals, with a gong ringing out to announce the achievement.
It took half that time to prepare the second 1,000, with the process moving ever faster, to the point that the gong was being heard in five minute increments.
Pastor Shannon Kimbell-Auth of United Christian Parish Church in Lakeport said the 10,000 meals packed to go overseas on Friday will be combined with another 10,000 to be packed at Clearlake Methodist Church on Saturday.
Those meals are then going to be shipped to Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries with one of the lowest standards of living, according to The World Factbook.
Kimbell-Auth said the meals will be distributed at schools in an effort to entice parents to send their children for food and education.
Lake County CAN! has attempted to take on the dual issue of hunger at home and abroad. Kimbell-Auth said the effort illustrated that people have the ability to address both.
Community members are invited to drop off food donations at the meal packing to take place in Clearlake on Saturday.
Food, backpacks and hygiene bags will be prepared from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Clearlake United Methodist Church, 14521 Pearl Ave., Clearlake.
For more information visit www.lakecountycan.org .
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .