Dexter United Methodist Church Holds Bottle Drive to Help Fight Global Hunger

Dexter United Methodist Church took a big step Sunday in providing meals for needy people all around the world.

Church youth groups organized a massive can and bottle drive to collect money for Feed My Starving Children, a Christian-based hunger relief organization serving families in impoverished nations and disaster areas.

Youth Minister Jeremy Hannich led the effort with an army of enthusiastic teens, who happily accepted hundreds of bags stuffed with cans and bottles. Once all of the donations were accepted and loaded into a large trailer, the volunteers returned half of the donations to , netting $540. The remainder of the cans will be deposited later this week.

According to Feed My Starving Children, a donation of 24 cents covers the cost to make, package and ship each meal. Meals consist of a simple rice mixture of soy, dehydrated vegetables, rice and vitamins.

“For the cost of a gumball, you can ship a meal across the world to a child who has no food,” Hannich said.

Through the bottle drive, Hannich hopes to raise $24,000 which would pay for 100,000 meals that volunteers will assemble and pack on April 14.

The effort will require a few hundred volunteers from DUMC and other Dexter churches, he said.

“It will take about 150 people per two-hour shift to assemble the meals,” Hannich said.

Representatives from Feed My Starving Children will bring semi-trailers packed full of all of the ingredients and raw material DUMC will need for the meals. Hannich said there will be a brief training session for volunteers to learn how to measure and package the ingredients properly.

To volunteer, or for more information, call Jeremy Hannich at 734-426-8480.