The SPIRE Easter 2014 | Page 6

80,000 Meals ...noW What? It started last summer when Westwood hosted its first Stop Hunger Now meal build in cooperation with our neighboring United Methodist churches in the Westside Churches Working Together mission area. That event was so successful that a second, “Westwood only,” build was held in January of this year. Over eighty thousand meals have been carefully bagged, sealed and boxed. The meal build is fun as an activity, and it has brought many members and friends together in Fellowship Hall. But now what? Where is all that food going? Stop Hunger Now’s mission is inspiring: To end hunger in our lifetime by providing food and life-saving aid to the world’s most vulnerable and by creating a global commitment to mobilize the necessary resources. Co-founded in 1998 by Ray Buchanan, a United Methodist clergyperson, the meal packaging program that has come to Westwood began in 2005. The total meals packaged is nearing 200 million, and they are strategically shipped around the world. The infographic on the facing page tells some of the story. Hunger is an issue that faces us everywhere we turn – including here in west Los Angeles. It is exciting that our response can extend across the street, across the city and, with the partnership of Stop Hunger Now, across the globe. The next Stop Hunger Now meal packaging event will be held at Westwood Saturday, August 23, 2014 10:00 a.m. to noon including the Westside Churches Working Together. 6