BANGOR, Maine — Bruce Knight stood Saturday morning at the back of the former Circuit City store on Stillwater Avenue. Dressed for the weekend in jeans and a T-shirt, he leaned into a large cardboard box to scoop powered soy into much smaller plastic bins.
The disposable hairnet perched atop his shaven head and bright red shirt made him look more like a guy headed for the circus at the Bangor Auditorium than a man on a mission from God.
“I think we are actually blessed in this country,” he said without pausing in his work. “This seems like the very least we can do to help others.”
Knight, 39, of Plymouth was one of about 500 volunteers expected to help fill food packets to provide 100,000 meals to starving children around the globe during the one-day session.
Saturday’s event, called Meals from Maine, was the first held in the state as part of a program sponsored by the Global Aid Network, or GAiN, and Feed My Starving Children, according to Beverly Kostusyk, 52, of Winterport.
Feed My Starving Children, a Christian nonprofit based in Coon Rapids, Minn., provided the raw food material in bulk. Volunteers, such as Knight, broke it down so others could place carefully measured amounts of rice, dehydrated vegetables, powdered soy and vitamins and minerals into plastic packets that were then sealed. Each packet, when cooked in water, will feed six children, according to the organizations’ websites.
Global Aid Network, based in Dallas, is the organization that distributes the food packets along with filter systems to insure the rice-based meals are not cooked in contaminated water. The meals packed in Bangor will be taken to a distribution center in Lancaster, Penn., and prepared for shipment overseas, Joe Kostusyk, 62, of Winterport said Saturday.
The Kostusyk husband and wife team, along with members of their church, Nealley’s Corner Church at 1260 Kennebec Road in Hampden, began planning and fundraising for Saturday’s event about 18 months ago.
Finding a suitable location was as difficult as raising the $30,000 needed to fund the event, Beverly Kostusyk said.
Much of the money was raised by her church and other churches in Greater Bangor by saving $14 worth of quarters in M&M’s Minis tubes, Beverly Kostusyk said. The Tabitha and Stephen King Foundation contributed $5,000.
Area businesses such as Cross Insurance and Home Depot donated space and services, she said. Dysart’s is helping get the meals packed in Bangor to Pennsylvania.
“As for fundraising, we’ve had our ups and downs,” Beverly Kostusyk said. “But, we had 500 volunteers sign up in just a week and a half.”
Three teams of volunteers each worked two-hour shifts filling, sealing and labeling the meals, then packing them into boxes for shipment. About 20 churches along with area colleges were represented Saturday, according to Joe Kostusyk.
“Our goal is have one event like this every year,” he said. “Our mission is to have a packing event in 10 locations around the state so we can say that in Maine, we pack a million meals a year.”
The couple already has begun planning for next year’s event.
For information, visit www.mealsfrommaine.org or call 223-5158.
Great work guys and gals would have joined you but was busy most of the day with pre plans.
Too bad we still got kids in Maine going to bed hungry
good things come from Maine! :) but i wanna know how to participate into these charitable food events that have been goin on lately.
I think it’s nice they’re helping others…..but don’t we have hungry children in this country??
Sadly there are many kids right in Bangor that will still go to bed hungry tonight… why do we not help them instead of another countries needy?
Ya I find it odd the ammount of kids here in the USA that need help yet we have groups sending help over sea’s how about taking care of our own first!!
Wow people, we are all in this life together! People everywhere need help. Instead of b!tching why don’t you go out and help the hungry people around your area. What have you done to earn the right to judge those that are trying to make a difference?
Time to feed our own kids in the USA.
Good things do come from Maine! All you people who are so negative about this should take a day out of your busy schedules and volunteer at a Maine food Bank, or some other charity thats worthy of your time.
I may not volunteer, but I DO donate to my local food pantry, so I know some kids in my area are getting fed! I also fed a good many kids in my home over the years. There seems to be alot of help going overseas to help others. We need to help our own, cuz no other country is going to help us when we become a third world country!
You really think we are going to become a third world country?
The potential is always their.
And Obama was supposed to destroy us four years ago as well and that didn’t happen.
There was a food drive for Manna to support the local need. Everyone that came brought bags of food so the effort was not only globally but locally as well…..BDN forgot to mention that.
That was unfortunate.
It was mentioned in Bangor daily in the paper, not on the site, thank you
I understand what so many of the comments from this have been negative. I see the work going on and the help given in the news and the groups that get all of the media attention are the ones that send food and help overseas. That is pretty sad, when as everyone has noted, we have so many starving children and families right here in the USA. I also recal every time there is a natural disaster seeing Bush, Clinton, and Obama teaming together asking everyone to text 10.00 bucks to the relief effort, not knowing of course when or IF they aare actually recieving the aid. 60 minutes has done several stories on food that gets stuck at warehouses in Haiti, Japan, and other areas going bad, while it awaits approval form the various governments. Imagine how much that food would help all those people hungry right here. Being a volunteer is rewarding, giving to those needy is fullfilling, but getting ripped off on a regular basis by federal and local government is the main reason why more dont off the help and more believe its not actually helping anyone that needs it.
And to think by the time I finished reading the story and typed out this comment close to 100 children have died from starvation in a matter of minutes and as you read this comment another child is dying and this continues to happen every few seconds somewhere in this world.
Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvlEr3P6zzM
The locals do need to travel more. My husband likes to cater to my children when it comes to food.(Doesn’t help we own a seasonal restaurant) I have one food rule here. Eat what I prepare, thank God first for providing it and then thank me for preparing it. Eat it or eat dirt! Children in many countries eat dirt just to fill their bellies with something to stop the pain. They feel full and they also feel like they are eating. When my kids complain, my favorite expresion is, they mimic me, “Go eat dirt”. It is so sad, and not a laughing matter. However, my kids got the point. If God’s food that he has so graciously provided isn’t good enough for you, go eat dirt, because 1/3 of the world doesn’t have food. Sad.
So here’s my question…. if my own family were hungry or cold would I be buying the neighbors food and heat before my own family were taken care of first? We have people in this country who are hungry…..hello?????
PLEASE STOP complaining about the people trying to do something good. If you want to help the starving people in Maine DO IT! Let’s try to help EVERYBODY that needs it. We see how good government programs “work” – there certainly is room for improvement. The cynic in me does wonder how cost effective a program that started in Dallas ships food from MN to ME to PA and then shipped out from there is. It seems like a lot of run around extra cost.
The cost effectiveness comes from all the donations they receive at each stop along the way, not to mention the free labor.
Very nice, though I suspect that when it was time to break for lunch this group was not eating what they were sending out.
How is it that compliments can only be backhanded? Why not simply appreciate the kind efforts of these people and leave it at that.
Kids here starve due to lousy parents not war and Earth quakes
Not in every instance. Low paying jobs, homelessness, parents having to decide which bill to pay or not to pay this month so they can buy some food. Parents who are just over income for food stamps and health care. Not all parents are lousy parents and I do not like being clumped into your analogy of why kids are going hungry!
The money being spent on wars could be used in this country for the needs of OUR people. You really need to step outside the box and see the WHOLE picture!
The WHOLE picture is our planet! Not Bangor, Maine!
lousy parents – no parents that feel they have no hope and fell they can’t change the situation they are in. Sorry lousy parenst don’t want to starve the children they gave birth to.
We shouldn’t be sending anything overseas. Not our problem. There are plenty of people in this country that need help. This group is following in the footsteps of our government. How can we help people in other countries, while our own people suffer.
If you or your children are hungry, visit a local food bank. I guess that’s how we ‘take care of our own’ , not to mention the generous welfare plan in Maine. There are no food banks or welfare plans in Zimbabwe.
Thank you!!! I cannot believe the lack of compassion with these posters. This is the land of plenty, and as someone has previously stated, if you’re going hungry, you are not trying hard enough! Sounds rude, I don’t care. Everyone is so gimmie gimmie gimmie while spitting our children and thinking that they deserve coddling because they have bred.
Many families aren’t able to feed their families for a variety of reasons. Low paying job, no job, they may be living in their car, homeless shelter…..the streets!! Not everyone is looking for a handout. They are looking for a job, maybe even looking for a 2nd and 3rd job! I want you to go to a homeless shelter, look the family with children, in the eye and tell them they just aren’t trying hard enough! Not everyone who can’t feed their children are on welfare! If this is the land of plenty, why are there children going hungry? The cost of groceries are increased to the point where you can only stretch the money and food so far and still try to pay bills to keep a roof over your head!