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| A family from St. Francis Xavier Parish in Cross Plains packs food for the Feed My Sheep project at the Catholic Multicultural Center in Madison on April 5. There were 552 volunteers involved in packing 100,008 meals. (Catholic Herald photo/Cathy Lins) |
MADISON — The pack event for this year’s Feed My Sheep Lenten Project was held April 5 at the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) in Madison.
Sarah Ramthun, executive director for 6:8, the organization coordinating the project, reported that 552 volunteers packed 100,008 meals.
“Every bag of rice and food stuff was used. The group met their financial goal and was able to pay for all the food.”
Importance of food
John Wong, a representative from the Kids Against Hunger-Rock County, helped set the tone for the task when he showed common items from his own food pantry. He talked about how much each item cost, whether it was a flavor they liked, and what the nutritional value was of the food.
It generated a conversation among the families present about how easy it was to have food available to each of us. They observed how fortunate we are to be able to pick and choose what we wanted for this meal versus the next. And, if we couldn’t decide what we wanted to eat — that we could just go out to eat.
Wong noted that not everyone has that luxury and talked about the local need for food security within Wisconsin. He also showed photos of the school in Nicaragua that would be receiving some of the food packets.
He then showed one of the food packages that they would be making — highlighting how much more nutritious and affordable it was compared to our common food items.
Bustling with activity
Msgr. Ken Fiedler, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Madison, welcomed the volunteers to the Catholic Multicultural Center. He was overwhelmed at the sheer numbers of families with young people and teenagers who gave up a beautiful Saturday to help those most in need.
The center was bustling with activity on the day of the event. Youth ministry leaders and volunteers from Good Shepherd, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Holy Mother of Consolation, St. Bernard in Middleton, St. Francis Xavier, St. Maria Goretti, St. Martin, St. Peter, and St. Thomas Aquinas Parishes worked together to keep the assembly lines moving for the different two-hour shifts. The assembly lines filled the main cafeteria and the back store room.
You could tell the pack event leaders from the rest because of their red hair nets. They were stationed throughout the assembly area to keep the process organized.
Everyone gets involved
Some youth ministers shared their insights from the event:
“It has simply become part of parish life.,” said Cheryl Horne from Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish. “We have our Feed My Sheep quarter challenge during Catholic Schools Week for grades one to eight in our parish school (this year our principal shaved his head and his mustache when we met our goal).
“Many of our parish families volunteer to help pack meals and to prepare the lunch that kicks off the day for volunteers and guests at the CMC, T-shirts are on sale and EweTubes are available throughout Lent, high school students in Confirmation preparation classes use the day as an opportunity to learn about and to live the principles of Catholic Social Justice teaching, and our high school Mass Band plays for Mass at the end of the Feed My Sheep Pack Day,” said Horne.
“It’s a way for people of all ages and families of all sizes to reach out to those in need here in Madison and across the globe. It’s a chance for families, single people, teenagers, senior citizens — for all of the faithful to live Matthew 25.
“Everyone gets involved! Everyone serves! Everyone realizes they CAN serve! We serve together as a parish family. It helps people realize there are ways in which EACH of us can serve, and that serving together is a wonderful, fulfilling way to live our faith,” said Horne.
Serving God and neighbor
“Feed My Sheep (FMS) has been a great event to combine efforts of our religious education programs and the wider parish. In a few short years, FMS became a recognizable and credible event to raise funds and awareness as well as a venue for service,” said Kevin Sullivan from St. Bernard Parish in Middleton.
“The highlight was the amount of parishioners involved this year. I encouraged my Confirmation groups and other high school students to volunteer and I was very pleased with the turn-out. It gives me hope that our students are making the Gospel connection of serving God by serving neighbor.
“The day was a great opportunity to work with fellow parishioners and the wider Body of Christ to make an impact in the lives of our neighbors and even people we will never meet,” said Sullivan.
Powerful witness
“For HMC (Holy Mother of Consolation) families who volunteered, it was a powerful witness to see people work the event as families — how young kids could even take part and what a powerful memory that is bound to be for them,” said Mary Lynn Hendrickson from HMC Parish in Oregon.
“The main highlight for me was seeing how excited my students became about raising money for this cause. They liked that they could help people close to home and people in another part of the world.
“Some kids filled their EweTube right away, dumped contents out at church, and then brought it right back home to fill again,” she said.
For more information, go to www.makingservicepersonal.org/FeedMySheep or contact John and Sarah Ramthun at 6:8, 485 Prairie St., Prairie du Sac, WI 53578, or 608-658-4700.