Like many of our fellow Hoosiers, we were devastated to see the destruction Hurricane Harvey left behind in Texas and Louisiana. When the opportunity arose to help, we were more than happy to do so. Million Meal Movement partnered with Midwest Food Bank to send nearly 70,000 meals to the Houston area to aid victims of Hurricane Harvey.

John Whitaker, the executive director of Midwest Food Bank in Indianapolis, picked up the meals from the Million Meal Movement warehouse. The meals will be a part of care boxes assembled and distributed by the Salvation Army in Houston. Our  simple meals are perfect for disaster relief: each nutritionally complete meal takes up little space, only needs boiling water to prepare, and feeds four.

These meals were packed by volunteers from Butler University, Elanco, Charles Schwab, TriMedx and students from the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. They thought they were packing meals for Hoosiers, but as Hoosiers we can’t stand by and watch our fellow Americans suffer from this catastrophic natural disaster. When they packed these meals, they became an important part of the disaster relief effort.

As another hurricane bears down on Florida and the clean up effort continues in Texas, local food banks like Midwest Food Bank will continue to depend on Hoosiers to help. Beyond food there will be a need for diapers and cleaning supplies. And while Midwest Food Bank hopes to send 1-2 trucks a week with food and supplies, the need for providing hunger relief locally doesn’t go away.

How can you help? You can visit Midwest Food Bank’s Hurricane Harvey information page for detailed information on their current needs. You can also sponsor a meal packing event with us so we can continue to keep the shelves full at food banks across Indiana.