A local organization's goal to raise funds for 20,000 meals for needy Carbon County children, seniors and adults is nearly halfway complete.

Members of the Thrivent Financial board of directors are leading the charge, working with area businesses, churches and residents to finance a "food packing frenzy" that will take place on Nov. 24. The frenzy will be hosted by End Hunger NE, a subsidiary of Outreach, Inc."To meet our goal, we need to raise around $5,900," said Al Sellers, president of the Thrivent Financial board in Carbon County."We are somewhere around $2,100 at this point. We're just about at the halfway point, and we're still receiving monies. All of the food we are packaging will stay within the Carbon County area and directly benefit children and seniors who may have some problems obtaining food," he added."I feel that it's an extremely worthwhile cause."The idea behind End Hunger NE is simple it harnesses the power of bulk buying and volunteers to package individual meals, creating a large number of inexpensive but nutritious meals. Thrivent is aiming to purchase and package between 20,000-25,000 meals of macaroni and cheese for just 25 cents each. These meals will be packaged in a "frenzy" of volunteers at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lehighton, working together in assembly lines to package individual servings, and distributed to food pantries throughout the county.End Hunger NE has helped organizations to package nearly 4 million meals this year. If Thrivent meets its fundraising goals, the 4 millionth meal will be packaged in Lehighton."That's a milestone that we would be very proud to help them reach," Sellers said.In addition to helping to feed hungry residents of Carbon County, the project is also helping the local Thrivent board raise awareness of the hunger needs in our area. More than 6,000 people in Carbon County are food insecure, missing at least one meal a day or unsure where their next meal will come from. Approximately 1,800 of those people are children."In Carbon County, there are a lot of people who just don't have a meal on a daily basis. There are all kinds of programs that try to support them, but there are still some people who slip through the cracks," said Sellers. "We want to help them by supplying this food."The project will also allow the local Thrivent chapter to help even more people beyond those receiving meals. The national Thrivent fraternity distributes funds to local chapters each year for local community service projects, and rewards chapters who do the most community work. By completing a large-scale project such as this, the Carbon County chapter is ensuring additional funds to do even more good in the community."We are developing a volunteer army," said Sellers, noting that approximately 125 volunteers have signed on so far. All volunteers will take part in a meal after the packaging event, hosted by the Trinity hospitality committee and members of All for One.He believes that the group does not need additional volunteers, but is currently seeking donations to complete the financing for the event."Every dollar we get is going toward these meals," he added. "It's 25 cents a meal. If someone would like to participate and donate $10, that buys 40 meals. One hundred dollars will purchase 400 individual meals or servings."Members of the community are also invited to join volunteers for a pre-Thanksgiving service at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lehighton after the packing event. The service will take place at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 24. The guest preacher will be the Rev. Mathew Martin, the director of End Hunger NE. He will also preach at Trinity's regular 9 a.m. worship service that day.Donations are being accepted at the Trinity Church office, or can be mailed to Trinity Lutheran Church, 175 S. Third St., Lehighton, PA 18235. Checks and correspondence should be made out to the Carbon County Thrivent Board."I'm excited about this," said Sellers. "If this is successful and it looks like it's going to be, next year we'll probably open it up to all of the churches in Carbon County and see if we can't do 50,000 meals. There won't be an end to this. Next year we hope to have another event."