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Packing 30,000 meals in one hour for San Diego children

A local healthcare company meets its goal of packing 30,000 meals for hungry children and their families in San Diego.

One in six children are estimated to go hungry in San Diego County, but a local healthcare company on Tuesday worked to pack 30,000 meals for local families through Feed Children Everywhere organization.

“We’re going to be packing 30,000 meals of Italian veggie pasta,” said Briana Blanchard, Feed Children Everywhere event lead.

One hundred Aya Healthcare employees helped make it possible to feed 30,000 San Diego children and their families.

“I've had a lot of homeless patients and they get discharged and have nowhere to go. They are put on the streets and don’t know where they are going to for their next meal,” said Malana Hooker, a traveling nurse.

Malana is traveling nurse from New Mexico working in San Diego. For her, helping people doesn't stop inside the hospital. She had someone cover her shift Tuesday so she could volunteer and pack meals. 

“I love stuff like this. It feeds my soul,” she said. 

Feeding Children Everywhere, is a global non-profit that lives by the motto "activating people for a hunger-free world." It is supporting The San Diego Food Bank by keeping all the meals local. Feeding Children Everywhere estimates 177,000 San Diego County children have a food insecurity.

“I see beautiful hairnets and just people that are filled with love and ready to make that big difference,” said Blanchard.

These types of events are beneficial for companies as team building events. Aya Healthcare has 1,200  employees in San Diego. Last year The San Diego Union Tribune ranked it the top large company workplace in the city.

“For us it's fun to do something like this, get our hands dirty, we’re packing the boxes and it makes us feel like we are genuinely having an impact that we may not always feel like we are tangibly in our day-to-day job,” said Erin Stafford, Aya Healthcare V.P of Marketing.

In just over an hour, for every minute spent packing, a volunteer bagged five meals, feeding 30,000 children and families in San Diego.

If you or your company wants to get involved in a hunger project click here.

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