Milwaukie, OR. The Dream Dinners Foundation hosted its first local meal packing event at La Salle Catholic College Preparatory on October 13th. Two-thirds of the 40,668 meals (packed by Dream Dinners Clackamas and Beaverton) will be sent to the Bahamas to feed those affected by the recent hurricane and one-third will be distributed locally to feed children primarily in the North Clackamas School District. The meals will be distributed through Friends and Family Community Connection. (Photo credit, Ashley Stanford Cone)
More than 40,000 meals were packed in just two hours.
Over 300 volunteers, students, and families gave of their time to help those in need.
As part of the event, La Salle Prep made the October meal packing event a school-wide service project, for its homecoming week. A portion of the meals will go to families of Lot Whitcomb elementary school. La Salle Prep regularly shares food with students through their Backpack Buddies program.
“We are excited to work with students and families from La Salle Prep and our friends, customers, and neighbors, to help feed children in our community,” said Mel Murdock, owner of Dream Dinners in Clackamas. ” Children without enough to eat are severely affected both mentally and physically. They see smaller gains academically, and they struggle to learn, concentrate and adapt to their surroundings. This event is not only helping meet the basic needs of local children, but it’s bringing us together as a community in our fight against hunger.”
Murdock went on to share that in Oregon, more than 500,000 people (almost 13 percent) are food insecure. That is one in eight adults, and one in five children that do not have adequate access to food. Of that group, over 200,000 have very low food security and often do not have access to the healthy food they need. Although hunger rates have improved over the last few years, Oregon is still the 20th hungriest state in the country.
Partnering together, the local Beaverton and Clackamas Dream Dinners owners hope to host yearly meal-packing events, shared between the west and eastside, to support the region and kids within their surrounding communities.
About Dream Dinners:
Founded in 2002, Dream Dinners’ mission is to make gathering around the family table a cornerstone of daily life. Dream Dinners guests choose from seasonal, rotating monthly menus and prepare their dinners in-store without the hassle of planning, shopping and chopping. Dream Dinners lays out the ingredients in an easy-to-follow format so guests can assemble a month’s worth of meals in about an hour. A pioneer and leader of the meal assembly industry, Dream Dinners brings Homemade, Made Easy to local communities through its 72 retail locations across the US. Learn more at w ww.dreamdinners.com.
Started in 2005, Dream Dinners Foundation works to connect heart to service through meal packaging events in communities Dream Dinners’ stores serve.
