That assembly line effort will be part of the nutrition program conducted by an organization called Feed My Starving Children, which sends food worldwide.

The students of Community Christian School got a preview of the effort Wednesday morning, when David Bowser, a Fort Dodge man who is organizing the project, spoke to them during chapel time.

Bowser told the students that across the globe, 800 million people go to bed hungry.

“In the world, it’s a huge problem,” he said. “It’s shocking. But we can make a difference.”

“There’s a need in the world, a big need in the world,” he added. “God wants us to reach out.”

While the need is serious and the prospect of producing 108,864 meals in one day is daunting, Bowser told the students that the project is a lot of fun. He showed photos of current Community Christian School students working during the last meal-packing event held there three years ago.

School Principal Stephanie Coble-Day issued a challenge to the students.

She said if the students can raise $1,000 to support the meal-packing project, they will be rewarded with an extended recess for all grades.

She added that if they raise $1,250 she will agree to either take a pie in the face, kiss a farm animal or dye her hair blue.

“We can help so many children in the world,” she said.

Feed My Starving Children conducted meal packing events in Fort Dodge for five years until the annual events were stopped in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meals assembled during the previous packing events went to the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, North Korea and Ukraine, according to Bowser.

He has set a goal of raising $32,000 for the upcoming meal packing effort. He said $28,000 will pay for the ingredients and the rest will be divided between The Salvation Army, The Lord’s Cupboard, Beacon of Hope, and The Lotus Project.

“We do that just to have a local impact as well,” he said.

How to help

• To donate to the effort, send checks made out to Fort Dodge Mobile Pack to Crossway Evangelical Free Church, 3058 10th Ave. N., Fort Dodge, IA 50501. Donations can also be made online at fmsc.org.

• The Feed My Starving Children meal-packing effort will be on Dec. 3 at Community Christian School, 2406 9 1/2 Ave. S. To sign up to volunteer, visit fmsc.org after Nov. 3.