Volunteers package meals for people displaced in Ukraine

More than 150 volunteers helped create packaged meals for displaced people and refugees in Ukraine on Saturday at the Abiding Christ Lutheran Church in Fairborn.

The volunteers packaged over 28,000 meals for Lifeline Christian Mission in Columbus.

Lifeline Christian Mission will ship the packages abroad to provide meals to displaced people and refugees, June Fryman, lead pastor at the Abiding Christ Lutheran Church, said.

The volunteers came from several religious institutions from around the region and Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops associated with them. In addition to Abiding Christ Lutheran Church, others included Good Shepard Lutheran Church in West Milton, Arise in Christ Lutheran Church in Donnelsville, St. John’s Lutheran Church in Vandalia, First Lutheran Church in Xenia, Emanuel Ministries in Fairborn.

Some of those meals include rice, dehydrated vegetables, soy for protein and for protein enrichment, fortified vitamins with 21 of them part of the package.

Each small package contains six meals, with 36 packages per box and each box containing 218 meals, Fryman said.

Abiding Christ Lutheran Church received over $8,000 dollars in anonymous donations as well as contributions from other donors for Saturday’s event.

“I think what they are doing when they know they have filled a box — when the table has filled a box, they cheer. We have 10 stations, 10 people at each station and then support workers as well taking product to the table and then bringing the finished product out,” Fryman said.