Webster Groves Local 2665 Teams With Community Church to Prepare 20,000 Meals

February 3 • 2015
On Sunday morning, February 1, as many Americans were spending their time contemplating and preparing for what to eat during the Super Bowl, on and off duty members of the Webster Groves, MO Local 2665 were donating their time and energy along with dozens of members of the Webster Groves Presbyterian Church to prepare 20,000 meals in conjunction with the group Stop Hunger Now.

Stop Hunger Now is a not-for-profit agency whose mission is to end hunger in our lifetime. It teams up with churches and civic organizations around the country to prepare complete meal kits that feed six people and only require the recipients to add the contents to boiling water. The meals consist of rice, soy, vitamins and dried vegetables and are shipped to more than 60 developing countries around the world.

Jason Simpson, the Local 2665 Shop Steward of the Webster Groves Fire Department reports, “This was an amazing opportunity to help out a great church in our community and give back not only to Webster Groves, but to a very worthy cause whose impact will be felt halfway around the globe.”

Simpson adds that the Webster Groves Shop took no persuading to participate. All on-duty members happily forwent their Sunday morning plans to assist, and numerous off-duty members came to assist as well, including several who brought their spouses and children. In all Webster Groves fire fighters the Presbyterian Church package 20,000 meals in just under four hours.

According to Stop Hunger Now, approximately 25,000 people per day die due to hunger related causes. That happens despite the fact that presently there is more than four pounds of food per inhabitant of our planet. “The issue is not the lack of food, but the presence of war, political discord, lack of education and poverty that prevents the food from reaching those who need it the most,” says Baylee DeLaurier of Stop Hunger Now.