One team of volunteers is hoping to end hunger in Carbon County. To do this, they plan to pack 40,000 meals in four hours with the help of hundreds of volunteers. These meals will be distributed to Carbon County food pantries to be given to the neediest families facing food insecurity.

End Hunger Carbon County's fight against hunger will begin at 1 p.m. on Sept. 19 at St. John's Lutheran Church in Mahoning Township. There they will coordinate volunteers and measure and repackage bulk bags of fortified macaroni and cheese into family-sized meal packets, at a cost of just 25 cents per serving.This is the second time that the group has organized a food packaging event in our area.In 2013, more than 170 volunteers packaged more than 26,000 meals that were distributed to Carbon County pantries. Organizers are hoping to make this an annual event."That food, 26,000 meals, only lasted six months," said Alvin Sellers, the president of the End Hunger Carbon County action team."That says a lot about the need in this county for food, and the number of people who are food-challenged. There are around 8,000 in Carbon County who miss a meal on a daily basis. Three thousand or more are children. There are also a lot of seniors who have to make the choice between medicine and food."He hopes that by packaging more meals, the event will help to keep local emergency food supplies filled for an entire year.To make this happen, the action team is seeking to gather more than 200 volunteers. They will also need to raise $10,000 to purchase the supplies for 40,000 meals.So far the group has raised more than $8,000 by asking individuals, businesses, churches and civic organizations to sponsor a family meal packet ($1.50 for six servings) or meal box ($54 for a box of 36 family meal packets and 216 servings). All for One, consisting of members of the county's Lutheran churches, also raised more than $1,000 during a bake sale at St. John's.The End Hunger Carbon County action team is working in conjunction with and sponsored by the Carbon chapter of Thrivent Financial, of which Sellers is also president.The group is again working with Outreach Inc., a subsidiary of End Hunger NE, to purchase bulk food and packaging supplies.Volunteers are asked to contact Sellers or their church's volunteer group before the event so that they can be assigned a time slot.Volunteers will be asked for a two-hour commitment and contacted the week before the event to confirm their time slot. Eight assembly lines will be set up during each shift and each volunteer will be assigned one job of measuring, pouring or packaging meals."Everyone seems very excited to learn more and volunteer," said Sellers. "It's critical that people who want to volunteer contact us to be listed as a volunteer. When we consolidate all of our volunteers, we'll call and designate times for each of the groups."Sellers is looking forward to the packaging event, and hopes that others are as well."It was an exciting time," he said. "The packaging event is a culmination of fundraising, but it's really the crux of what we do. People get to see families working together, sports teams and Scouts and youth groups working together, and it accomplishes an important goal. It's a great feeling and a great atmosphere. Everyone goes away feeling a little bit better about themselves."Posters and sign-up brochures are available in most Carbon County churches and many local businesses. Brochures and sign-up/donation sheets are also available at Jim Thorpe National Bank on Broadway in Jim Thorpe and Fourth Street in Lehighton.To volunteer, contact Sellers at 570-656-2239 or

snap67@ptd.net.Donations can be made online at

www.endhungerne.org by typing "9-13-15 Lehighton PA" into the purpose field of the donation page.Donations can also be mailed to End Hunger, 140 Mahanoy Ave., Tamaqua, PA 18252. Checks should be made payable to CC Chapter Thrivent Financial.