More than 500 volunteers gathered to pack rice, soy, vegetables and vitamins into meals for malnourished children around the world.
Feed My Starving Children hosted a two-day event for the first time in Jefferson City on Friday and Saturday.
"It means a lot to do this event here and bring everyone together for the purpose of feeding children in Jesus' name and helping others," mobile pack organizer Scott Shaw said.
Shaw is the director of family ministries at Living Hope Church, formerly known as Grace Evangelical Free Church. The event was at Concord Baptist Church, one of several event partners. Shaw has been part of FMSC's mission for eight years and knew he wanted to keep helping.
"Just a few months after moving to Missouri, I thought we should do one here," Shaw said.
After months of working with church leaders and gathering volunteers, the event became a reality.
More than 100,000 meals were packed. Shipments will go to partnered missionary groups in 70 countries. Each pack serves six, one cup meals.
FMSC event supervisor Tyler Grant said mobile packing events are important to the Christian nonprofit's work.
"Last year, we had over a million volunteers reported who came into mobile pack events just like this and to our permanent sites and they packed over 330 million meals," Grant said.
Volunteers of all ages were excited to make a difference.
"I got to pack the rice and soy," Grant Moreland, 11, said.
He attended a second shift Saturday after having fun Friday.
Volunteers donate two hours for one shift. Adding the ingredients to MannaPack meals, they work as a team to pack one box at a time.
McKenzi Marsch, 19, traveled from Springfield to pack with her family.
"One thing is remembering to be thankful for what we have so that we can help others who don't have things that we do," Marsch said.
Permanent packing stations in Illinois, Arizona, Minnesota and Texas pack six days a week all through volunteers.
"Super-volunteer" Lynn Nozime is 64. After relocating from Illinois for family, she has been seeking mobile pack events to fill her desire for fighting hunger.
"I do it for many reasons," Nozime said. "Mostly because of God and because kids need to be taken care of."
She said her personal pull to feed children started when she worked with orphans in Haiti in the 1980s. Seeing the need for hunger, she encourages others to volunteer.
"It's amazing to be a small part of something so huge," Shelly Herring said.
She said "it just blows me away" when she saw the impact of a session feeding 61 kids for a year.
"It gave me a little bit of understanding on the starving countries," Herring said. "If you just stop to realize there are starving kids and you can spend a few hours on a Saturday to feed them for a year, it's just amazing."