“I put in the vitamins and stuff,” he said.

The event was held in honor of Kelvin Brown who died on Sept. 7, 2012, just a few days short of his fourth birthday.

Were he here today, the fifth-grade students packing meals would have been his classmates.

Brown’s mom, Hope Brown, started a memorial fund in her son’s name. This year, she donated part of the funds to pay for the meal pack. Valero Renewables paid for the remainder. The program has a 30,000 meal minimum which costs $3,000.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Fort Dodge Middle School fifth-grader Aryana Allen, 11, holds onto the bag at the bottom of the funnel and watches nervously as her classmates add ingredients during a meal packing event Friday afternoon.

For Hinds, packing meals beat math class.

“Yes,” he said.

Troy Bauer, of Fort Dodge, was part of a group of volunteers from Valero Renewables. His sister in-law is an employee. He came along to help.

He had one of the hard jobs, keeping the bins of rice and other grains full for the students scooping those ingredients into individual bags.

“This was a bit more than I thought it was going to be,” he said as he lifted a five gallon bucket of rice into a bin.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Fort Dodge firefigher Ashley Jochum was among the many volunteers who helped pack meals Friday afternoon at the Fort Dodge Middle School.

“I understand why nobody volunteered for this job,” he joked.

When not filling tubs, he was watching the students work.

“I’m impressed at how good they’re doing,” he said.

Aryana Allen, 11, had a critical job, too. She held the bag under a specially designed funnel as her fellow students each poured an ingredient into it.

“I have to hold the bag,” she said. “They have to put it in.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Karlan Hinds, 11, a fifth-grade student at Fort Dodge Middle School, carefully puts a measured scoop of vitamin powder into a meal pack Friday afternoon during a meal pack event at the school.

She, too, thought it was more fun than class.

“Yes,” she said. “I want to do this for a living.”

School Principal Aaron Davidson was watching the students filling meals with a look of pride on his face.

“We have a lot of great kids,” he said. “This is a great opportunity to give back. They were excited for this. It’s an experience that’s about others than themselves. They get to think about others and help those in need.”

Members of the community came out to help, and that included many members of the Fort Dodge Fire Department. One of its trucks, Engine 5, is dedicated to the memory of Kelvin Brown.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Fort Dodge firefighter Alan Angstrom, who’s still mastering the fine art of wearing a hair net, seals up a pack of Meals From The Heartland meal packs Friday afternoon at the Fort Dodge Middle School.

Georgie Filber, hunger fight manager with Meals From The Heartland, said the 30,000 meals packed Friday will go to the group’s warehouse in Des Moines for distribution.

“Some stays in the U.S.,” he said. “Some goes around the world.”

The meals, which consist of beans, rice, vitamins and other dry foods, are typically sent to places experiencing a variety of crises that can interrupt the food supply. Natural disasters scenes, famine sites and areas of extreme poverty have all been destinations.

“Some of it might even go to Tennessee,” he said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Mary Kay Daniel, of Fort Dodge, demonstrates her technique for efficient label application during the meal pack Friday afternoon at the Fort Dodge Middle School.