Forty-one members of Zion Lutheran Church, ranging from very young children to adults in their 80s, joined together to fight hunger in Haiti on Sunday, Sept. 19.

The group spent that afternoon packing meals for people in need through Stamp Out Starvation (SOS) of Cherokee. SOS Director Monte Stewart said the meals will go to help people in Haiti.

"We like to support our local missions and tried to do this event last fall, but Covid caused us to postpone it," said Zion Lutheran pastor Tim Roggow. The church's board of education members had suggested the effort as something both the youth and adult congregation could be involved with.

The large group helped pack 12,456 meals during that one afternoon. The meals consisted of more than 1,200 pounds of rice, along with other dried vegetables and nutrients. The meals were partially funded by a $250 Action Grant from Thrivent Financial that Zion Lutheran applied for and received. The grants, made available to members of the organization, "are designed to be a kick-start in raising funds to help those in need in the church, community and beyond," said Roggow. The grant paid for about a third of the cost of the 1,200 pounds of rice; a freewill offering from church members helped pay more of the cost to SOS.

People who volunteer time to pack meals for SOS don't have to pay for the meals, said Roggow, "but it helps to donate some funds to help cover their cost as they are a mission and fund their ministry with donations."

The church regularly helps people around the world. "The Lutheran Mission Women's League just got done collecting items (soap, towels, nail clippers and combs) for some health kits for Lutheran World Relief that will be sent overseas," said Roggow. The local women's league put together more than 100 kits using more than $500 donated to the project, he said.