By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
People from throughout the Bowling Green community came together Friday to pack meals for hungry folks around the world. The Bowling Green Rotary Club partnered with BGSU to bring together 520 volunteers to pack 70,000 meals for the Kids Coalition Against Hunger.
Row after row of volunteers filled the north end of the BGSU field house. Armed with scoops they carefully filled bags with rice, chicken and soy powder, and dehydrated vegetables. Each bag holds 390 grams of the mix. That mix, akin to Rice-A-Roni, when rehydrated is enough to feed 12 children or six adults, said Trevor Jessee, president of the BG Rotary.
The volunteers ranged from children to senior citizens.
They came from Rotary as well as the Exchange and Kiwanis clubs. They were athletes from BGSU as well as athletes from BGHS. They were students and teachers.
All were there for a common cause.
This is the first packing event on the BGSU campus.
Jessee said the idea for the project started in 2022 when he and fellow Rotarian Mike Kuhlin participated in a similar event at St. John’s Academy in Toledo.
They decided they wanted to bring the Kids Coalition Against Hunger to Bowling Green. They knew that to get the number of volunteers they needed they would have to partner with BGSU.
They worked with BGSU Athletics and C. Raymond Marvin Center for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement.
About 200 of the volunteers were BGSU students said Kendra Lutes, associate director for the Marvin Center.
Some athletes and members of the cheer and dance teams were on campus already, she said. Students from the President’s Leadership Academy also turned out.
Lutes said this a good opportunity for students to see that community service extends beyond their college years. “They’re working with community members and seeing what lifelong service is,” Lutes said.
At one table, Christopher Vaughn, from the President’s Leadership Academy, said he was enjoying the day. Across from him was local realtor Al Green, doing his part.
“It’s great to bring the community together for an activity like this,” Green said. “That’s what Rotary is all about.”
At another table, BGSU women’s basketball player Erika Porter said this was about “giving back to the community.” It was an opportunity to bond with teammates and meet people from town including Kaylee Bonaguro, who plays basketball at BG High.
Michael Burwell, the executive director of the coalition, learned about service to humanity for his father. Donald Burwell opened the Michigan satellite of Kids Against Hunger in 1999. Over the years, the coalition focused on organizing meal packing events. It spread throughout the Midwest region as far as west as Minnesota and as far east as Connecticut, and as far north as Marquette, Michigan, and as far south as West Virginia. Its warehouse is near Pontiac, Michigan.
Michael Burwell said during the Great Recession his work building and renovating homes dried up. His father told him now that he wasn’t “throwing hammers around,” he should join the coalition.
“I’m just managing a different kind of projects,” Michael Burrell said.
A third Burwell generation has picked up the torch. As volunteers left at the end of their 90-minute shift, they were treated to a couple spoonfuls of the meal that results from the ingredients they were packing. Burwell’s daughters Chloe, 19, and Kendall, 20, Burwell were serving.
Chloe Burwell said she has no idea how many of these events she’s helped with. More than 100. They have been helping for as long as they can remember.
She said she’s gain skills in communication and networking.
“This gets a group of people together to learn to work together for a greater purpose,” she said.
Over the years, her father said, the coalition has brought together 520,000 volunteers to package more than 62 million meals.
As in Bowling Green, a third of the meals will go to local food projects. Another third will be distributed globally — the coalition serves 60 countries. The other third are reserved as disaster relief, he said.
John Archer, a member of the Kiwanis, was impressed with the whole process of bringing a variety of people together to achieve the work. It was so efficient, he said, they finished early.
Kuhlin, of Rotary, said he pleased the way the project brought students and community people together so they could get to know each other.
“Maybe it’ll spur more projects,” he said. “We’re all talking about what’s next.”
