Members of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community’s Young River People’s Council teamed up with participants of the Youth Services Teen Wolf mentorship program to work on a service project during spring break on March 21 at the Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) location in Mesa.

Feed My Starving Children is a Christian nonprofit organization whose mission is “feeding God’s starving children hungry in body and spirit.” The organization takes donations to fund meal ingredients, and volunteers hand-pack the meals on-site. The meals are then donated to FMSC food partners around the world. The group has been serving in a total of 112 countries since 2009.

“Civic engagement is one of the key components in the Teen Wolf mentorship program,” said Rainboe Duarte, youth development specialist in the SRPMIC Youth Services Department.

After FMSC laid out the ground rules for the packing process and maintaining hygiene, the two groups were sent to their stations to help pack the food bags.

“Everyone works as a team,” said Sommer Lopez, youth development specialist, whose job was to seal the bags shut so that the food is packaged safely. “We have other members who are weighing the foods and making sure it’s the right amount and putting in the rice, the vitamins and grains, so that by the end of everyone’s little task, we have a full meal ready.”

Meals at FMSC are developed by food science and nutrition professionals to supplement nutritional needs and reduce problems with malnutrition. For more information about FMSC and their mission, head to www.fmsc.org.