Southern hospitality was at its best when Gail Thorson, Tender Mercies Coordinator at Midwest Food Bank Morton, IL, traveled to Peachtree City, Georgia to work alongside staff and volunteers at MFB Georgia. The trip was made to help facilitate a Tender Mercies packing event at MFB Georgia.

Tender Mercies is Midwest Food Bank's highly nutritious meal packet consisting of rice, beans, fortified chicken seasoning and soy protein. Packing events allow volunteers the opportunity to hand pack the meals.

Over the weekend of June 28-30, more than 300 volunteers with willing hearts and hands assembled Tender Mercies meals. Young and old worked side by side to help those struggling with food insecurity. Some volunteers even drove over 200 miles to participate in this event – the first of its kind at MFB Georgia. After learning the finer points of measuring, weighing and boxing Tender Mercies many volunteers are ready to sign up for the next event.

While having fun with family, friends and new acquaintances, volunteers packed about 58,000 Tender Mercies meals. Will Garner, MFB Georgia's Executive Director, hopes to host more packing events throughout the year. These meals will be distributed to partner agencies to be given to those in need.

The financial support for this event came from donations collected during the 2018 Giving Tuesday campaign. That same opportunity will be available again in November of this year. After learning the finer points of measuring, weighing and boxing Tender Mercies many volunteers are ready to sign up for the next event.

To learn more about Tender Mercies, click here.

Four Gails enjoyed volunteering together.
MFB Executive Director, Will Garner with Operations Manager, Lisa Lowther