LU Serve and Philadelphia Eagles QB partner to pack meals for Haiti

Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, will step off the field and into the LaHaye Event Space Feb. 21 to pack meals alongside Liberty students for people in Haiti during LU Serve’s meal packing event in partnership with Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) and Mission of Hope. 

LU serve plans for over 1,500 Liberty students to attend throughout the course of the day, packing MannaPack meals for the families in need.

For Liberty students wanting to participate, they may sign up for one of the five different shifts, from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Packing teams of a dozen students will be assigned to complete tasks such as a scooping, bagging, boxing and sealing. 

 “Students can expect to come into a very fun and interactive environment where they will be able to be hands on, packing and preparing ingredients in meal packs in order to send those into a container that will go immediately to Haiti from Liberty University,” Steven Gillum, director of international engagement at LU Serve, said. 

Mission of Hope is a Christian organization serving the nations of Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and the Bahamas.  

“Carson Wentz is an advocate for Haiti and Team Hope (that is) part of the organization Mission of Hope,” Gillum said. “He is going to share his heart for Haiti and why he loves Haiti. Mission of Hope has orphanages, distribution centers, churches they work with, and school they work with. They have a network of Haitian nationals that run Mission of Hope in Haiti.” 

Gillum explained that Team Hope has a network in place to ensure that the food gets to where it is intended, without being lost or sold on the black market. 

“Those food packets will go to those centers where the express purpose and vision is to feed these individuals but also to share the hope and message of Jesus Christ as well,” Gillum said. 

The Christian nonprofit FMSC has already transported around 2.5 billion meals to areas where they hope to fight the effects of malnutrition. One of their FMSC’s beliefs is that through food distribution, the organization can be a source of hope. 

The MannaPacks will include soy, rice and vegetables, providing all the essential nutrients, dietary supplements and vitamins, according to Gillum. 

This selection is based off of carefully crafted formulas by nutritional scientists with the goal to reverse and prevent malnutrition. All meals provided are vegetarian and halal-certified to be respectful and acceptable to all cultures and religions.  Each pack will be able to feed as many as 12 people. 

Currently 3.5 million Haitians are in desperate need of emergency food assistance, according to the event’s description. 

Students interested in volunteering can register for the event through the LU Serve website, registering for two hours of packing at a time. 

Weaver is a news reporter.