Volunteers with group Feed My Starving Children package meals to be sent around world

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (WLS) -- After the devastation in Haiti from Hurricane Matthew, volunteers from across Chicago are doing what they can to help through an organization called Feed My Starving Children.

Every day at a Schaumburg facility, 118,000 meals are packed, sealed and ready to be sent around the world. Volunteers are at the heart of Feed My Starving Children and their mission has remained the same for the last 28 years.

"Feed My Starving Children, our goal is to feed children around the world. Really, our ultimate goal is to eliminate hunger all together," said Valencia Breckenridge.

The premise is simple: volunteers come in session of two hours each, fill what they call manna packs, bags containing soy, rice, veggies and vitamins.

"We wanted to do something together as a family and we felt like this is something we can do to contribute to people around the world and since we've been here before it's always a great time," said volunteer Randy McCool.

"I wanted to bring my kids because they haven't been here before," said volunteer Suja Sasi.

"Thought it was going to be ok, but I found out it was really, really fun," said Nishanth Nair.

Valencia Breckenridge says that the organization had a million volunteers last year between seven sites.

Countries receiving the food have to apply and be able to distribute all the meals and 75 percent have to go to children. The top countries receiving meals last year were Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Philippines, and Dominican Republic.

"Our top country is Haiti, which of course is in the news with Hurricane Matthew. We are gearing up to send 15 million meals there," said Breckenridge.

Whether this is your first time here or if you're a long-time volunteer all of them are walking away knowing they've made a difference. Every one of these packs will provide 6 meals for a child half way around the world.

"It touches my heart every time just to see those videos in the beginning and you just want to always help them," said volunteer Claire Gritt.

Feed My Starving Children is always looking for volunteers. They're planning a big holiday meal packing event at the Schaumburg Convention Center. It's coming up on December 9-11.

They're looking for 5,000 volunteers to help pack 1-million meals. You can sign up at www.fmsc.org.