US volunteers pack two million meals for hungry children around world

They came from all walks of US life - Girl Scouts troops, National Guard units, financial planning offices - to spend three days packing food for thousands of hungry children they will never meet.

The 2 Million Meals effort, the brainchild of a Detroit-area pastor, concluded on Sunday.

The result was that 8,810 volunteers put together 2.02 million meals to be shipped to El Salvador, Haiti and the Philippines. The mixtures of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and 21 vitamins and minerals will provide one meal a day for a year to 5,560 children.

"The truth is, this has been an amazing experience because of the impact it is going to cause in the lives of every child and every person who is going to eat these meals," Brad Powell, who heads NorthRidge Church, said shortly after the 2 millionth meal was packed on Sunday afternoon.

"But I think you can see from the energy in this room and all that's going on it's going to change more than just the lives of those who will eat this food."

Powell led an effort three years ago in which 5,000 volunteers packed 1 million meals over the same time period at an area middle school. Convinced more could and should be done, Powell dreamed of doubling that effort in the town of 55,000.

That vision became a reality when the magic completed number was displayed on an oversized video display.