Packaging 12,000 meals at St. James School on MLK Day 2017
On Monday, January 16, approximately 120 members of the school community gathered for St. James School’s 7th annual celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. The theme for this year’s day was A Day to Act, Not a Day Off, which included prayer, reflection, and action.
This day’s service project involved preparing 12,000 meals for families in Germantown and Kensington.
The Outreach Program, headquartered in Union, Iowa, provided the vital supplies and tools to prepare the meals. The Outreach Program is a non-profit organization that organizes food packaging events around the country. With more than 330 million meals packaged to date, the organization’s mission is to provide safe water, food, medical care and education to those in need, at home and abroad.
The highly effective and organized process of preparing meals was enhanced with house cheers, music, and cool dance moves. Full of spirit, the school stopped several times to encourage each other and to celebrate the progress made in preparing the 12,000 meals. The completed food packages will be distributed to people in need in Kensington and Germantown.
The morning began with a special prayer service in the Church of St. James the Less
The morning began with over 100 students, staff, parents, volunteers and community members gathering for a prayer service in the Church of St. James the Less. Singing the hymn Blessed Martin, Pastor, Prophet, about the life of Dr. King, set the tone for the joyful and moving day of service. The student-led prayer service included the student choir, readers of scripture, reflections from Dr. King, the St. James School Drummers, and “thank you” and “please” prayers from the entire community.
St. James is grateful for the hardworking family members and volunteers who used their day to truly honor Dr. King’s legacy.
