LARNED — An inaugural project to package 50,000 meals launched this weekend on Larned’s Main Street.
Larned’s Orphan Grain Train volunteers are hoping to have the meals packed and ready to ship by the end of March to the organization’s Nebraska-based home office and then to needy populations across the country and around the world.
The upcoming project was a topic of conversation among OGT board members at the Larned Collection Center Saturday as they sorted through recent donations to the organization’s regular program and packed for distribution. The regional center has operated in Larned for more than a decade.
OGT’s “Mercy Meals” have been reaching recipients for a while now, but the COVID pandemic presented many challenges for both recipients and those trying to reach them. Production stepped up in many of OGT’s regional centers in several states to meet the need, but not in Kansas, notes Cindy Warner Dayton, Great Bend. Dayton has been involved with the OGT mission in Norfolk, Neb., for the last two decades, but has served on Larned’s board for the past five years.
“Mercy Meals is not a new thing, but we haven’t done it hardly at all in Kansas,” noted Dayton, an OGT board member who donates time to the organization twice a month in Larned. “It’s mostly done in Nebraska, North Dakota and Missouri, but we haven’t gotten it here and that’s kind of what my goal is.”
OGT’s Larned operation is housed in the former Pawnee County Courthouse located at Fifth and Main Streets in Larned. The building was originally built in 1884, but remains sturdy enough to hold both OGT and the Larned Food Pantry. OGT purchased the building in 2012. The location is also ideal for the organization to host a variety of efforts, such as the Hope for Pawnee County event that provided goodie bags and lunch for Pawnee County community members.
Many ‘Mercy Meals’
Dayton’s vision for the Mercy Meal event is large; she envisions packaging 50,000 meals at a total cost of about $8,000. Heartland Community Church, 4907 10th St. in Great Bend, is hosting the March 25 packaging process beginning at 9 a.m. in its Fellowship Hall. Dayton estimates that about 350 volunteers will be needed.
So far, pledges toward the cost “are going well,” she said. “There is a lot of interest but not a lot of money in hand yet.”
The goal is 8,333 bags at a dollar a bag, she said. Each bag holds six meals, consisting of rice, soy, vitamin-enriched chicken flavoring and dehydrated vegetables. “If we raise more money, we will do more,” she said.
Intended recipients are in 20 countries. In this country, recipients include the Navajo Indian Nation; local food banks and disaster relief.
“This is my passion right now so I am really excited about getting this going,” Dayton said. Those with questions or needing more information may contact Dayton at 620-792-4442 or by cell, 620-639-1891.
About OGT
Orphan Grain Train is a 501(c) nonprofit Christian volunteer network that has shared this country’s resources with needy populations in other countries since 1992. Over three decades, more than 3,728 semi-trailer truckloads of food, clothing, medical supplies and religious materials have been sent to 69 countries and several disaster areas in the U.S.
Based in Norfolk, Neb., OGT has volunteers in 27 regional locations across the country that serve as collection points. To date, the volunteers have logged more than four million hours of service.
Recognized as a service organization of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church, recent national relief efforts have included construction material deliveries to the Houston area in the aftermath of hurricane Michael in 2017 and 400 turkeys for Thanksgiving meals a year later.
The OGT’s wish list continuously asks for volunteers; cash donations to defray shipping costs of $11 per box; infants’ supplies; medical equipment and supplies; hygiene products; school supplies; clothing; quilts and comforters; and miscellaneous items such as bicycles and sports equipment.
