At six p.m. on Jan. 13, the members of Hope Lutheran Church youth group walked across Old Highway 94 to the Keevan Storage center to participate in a program called Kids Against Hunger. Hope Lutheran Church has been involved in this volunteer organization since September 2008 in an effort to feed the hungry children in third-world countries such as Haiti. Kids Against Hunger packs over 3600 meals per shift and ships them over to Haiti every nine months.


They use four components per package, which is the equivalent of six meals. The ingredients of each meal are soy, chicken powder, vegetable pellets and rice. The residents of Haiti can cook this meal with just water and it will provide enough vitamins and nutrition equal to six meals. 36 packages fit in a box and on average, 15 or more boxes are produced in one single shift. This time of crisis has brought this extra food packaging event together and it shows the compassionate side of the youth group. 

“[Working with Kids Against Hunger] makes me feel like I can make a difference in the world, ” sophomore at FHHS Kelsey Meyer said.

At two in the afternoon on Jan. 12, an earthquake ranking a 7.2 on the Richter Scale hit the nation of Haiti. The already rough lifestyle of the Haitian people became more difficult as the earthquake struck Port au Prince and left homes and buildings in ruins and thousands injured or dead. Being published on the news yesterday, Jan. 13, the United States became aware of this tragedy and other citizens of St. Charles, along with Hope Lutheran Church are working to help out.

The pastor of Hope Lutheran Church, Chad Langdon has many close connections to the people of Haiti. He adopted his five year-old daughter, Vivine, from an orphanage right outside Port au Prince where the earthquake hit. He travels to Haiti about every six months and participates in Kids Against Hunger as well. The food that is packaged is distributed to the girls at the orphanage and their elders that watch over them. Also, each child who attends school in Haiti receives a package to take home. Pastor Langdon would like to get as many volunteers as possible to help with Kids Against Hunger and it is a great way to get directly involved with the earthquake relief according to him.

“[I feel like] I’m doing good work, ” Pastor Langdon said. “I know the people who get the food and I know that if we don’t give it to them, they won’t get food. We take food for granted here.”