Islanders Pack over 200,000 ‘Meals of Hope’

The Meals of Hope packing event on Saturday morning had a special sense of urgency this year.

It’s always critical to address the ongoing issue of food insecurity – aka not having enough to eat – which plagues even the areas surrounding affluent Marco Island. But with the government shutdown now the longest in our country’s history, SNAP benefits, or food stamps, have been abruptly cut off for millions of Americans, and hunger is staring them in the face.

About 450 volunteers showed up at the Marco Island Charter Middle School (MICMS) gym on Saturday, bright, early, and eager. In just over two hours, working like a well-oiled machine, they packed more than 200,000 nutritious meals, all destined for those in our community needing food assistance.

The MICMS gymnasium, looking like a cross between a factory floor and a bustling beehive, buzzed with activity as team members working on the assembly line principle each took care of their individual job to bring the overall task to fruition. In a few short hours, something like 143,000 lbs. of bulk food was packaged – over 200,000 oatmeal breakfasts, fortified with dried apples and vitamins, that will go to local Southwest Florida food pantries and families.

You just didn’t want to get in the way. With the energy level in the gym sky-high, and dozens of teams clamoring for more supplies or sending off completed boxes of meals, standing still on the gym floor was an invitation to get run over by a hardworking volunteer.

Some team members ladled the individual ingredients into each bag, some heat-sealed the packages, some shuttled the completed boxes of food to a collection point, and some kept the teams supplied, delivering tubs of oats, apples, cinnamon sugar, and other ingredients from enormous bulk cartons that Meals of Hope buys in large quantities. With the organization’s purchasing power, each meal can be provided for just over 25 cents per meal – even with inflation.

Raines “DJ Raindrop” White kept the music pumping, with a succession of up-tempo, bass-thumping numbers such as “C’mon Eileen,” “Jump Around,” and “The Macarena.” Enthusiastic packers on the gym floor would occasionally take a moment to break into spontaneous dance moves, all without slowing down the progress of packing.

Saturday’s event was the culmination of a year-long effort that began shortly after last year’s packaging event, with events including a series of happy hours to raise the money necessary to buy the ingredients for the meals packaged in the gym. Volunteers on Saturday morning paid for the privilege of helping unless they were 18 or under. But the meal packing underscored the principle that it is more blessed to give than to receive, with participants entitled to go into the rest of their weekend with a well-earned glow of satisfaction, knowing they had done something to make the world just a little bit better.

Jan Butz gave a little extra. She won $310 in the 50/50 raffle and promptly donated her winnings back to the cause. If you are motivated to help Meals of Hope, an award-winning homegrown 501(c)3 charitable organization that has gone national, making a monetary donation goes much further than buying food yourself and donating it, letting Meals of Hope take advantage of their connections and tremendous purchasing power to maximize your gift.

Marco Island’s effort won praise from Meals of Hope founder Steve Popper, who was on hand and visible everywhere around the gym to help keep things moving. Key organizers Sue Purvis, city councilor Deb Henry, and longtime “logistics czar” Erik Condee were corralled to pose for a group photo with Popper, but it wasn’t easy to get them all standing still in one place for more than a moment, as the work continued all around them.

“This group puts on the best-organized, easiest packaging event of any we do,” said Popper. Since beginning in Naples 18 years ago, Meals of Hope has grown nationwide, packaging and giving away “something over 120 million meals,” he said.

Meals of Hope also runs weekly food pantries, including many in Southwest Florida. At the food pantries, 4,000 families per week receive bags of groceries including frozen meat, fresh produce, canned goods, cereal, feminine products, and more. They recently inaugurated two food pantries in Immokalee focusing on infants, with baby food, formula, diapers, and bottles.

The food packaged on Marco Island stays in Collier County, said Popper, including on Marco Island, where there are still people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Immediately after Saturday’s meal packing event, planning and fundraising for next year’s packing begins.

In addition to contributions from the island’s Kiwanis and two Rotary Clubs, the 2025 Friends of Hope, those who have provided leadership giving, are: All Event Party Rental, Condee Cooling and Electric, William G. Morris, Barbara Kaufman, Tom Menaker, Donna Dubey, Dennis and Joan Pidherny, Jim and Allyson Richards, Arne and Jill Sandberg, Deb Henry, Bonita Schwan, Robert and Donna Reiley, Robert and Catherine Thomas, Pam Shniper, Gwyn Steiner, Susan Purvis, Alan and Linda Sandlin, and Marco Office Supply.