Organizers of the Fountain Hills food packing event are busy preparing for the eighth annual community project on Thursday, March 15, in the Community Center.

In the last seven years, volunteers have packed more than 390,000 meals to distribute to refugees, disaster victims and low-income households, said event co-chairs Dave and Leslie Bubke, of New Journey Lutheran Church.

Two other key sponsors are Church of the Ascension and Shepherd of the Hills Church.

This year’s goal will be to pack about 80,000 meals – 60,000 of instant oatmeal and 20,000 of the soup mix, said Dave Bubke. That would be about the same output as last year.

The packing activity will last about two hours, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Bubke said. Last year, about 300 volunteers including children, firefighters, individuals and representatives of religious and civic organizations packed the dehydrated food into meals.

Volunteers form assembly lines to weigh and combine nutritional ingredients into two types of easily-cooked dehydrated meals: dried soup mix with rice, dried vegetables, soy protein and vitamins, and oatmeal with sugar, cinnamon and vitamins.

A $100 donation buys about 600 meals; $500 will provide 3,000 meals.

The project is organized in conjunction with the international relief organization, Food for Kidz. The dehydrated meals are distributed to international and domestic disaster victims and Extended Hands Food Bank and similar groups that feed the hungry in Arizona.

If interested in joining the effort, Dave and Leslie Bubke can be reached by email at fhfoodpack@njlc-fh.org.