The Bainbridge Rotary Club and its two student organizations, the Bainbridge High School Interact Club and the Rotaract Club of Bainbridge College, gathered at the Student Wellness Center on the Bainbridge College campus Tuesday morning, March 27, to help package dried food for “Kids Against Hunger,” the Cairo, Ga., branch of the international organization.

The local Rotary Club donated $1,000 to the organization to assist with the cost of the food packages, which will go to feed local families as well as families in Honduras and Nicaragua. Rotarian Ann Brannen, a Rotaract sponsor, presented Allison Harrell, director of Decatur County Family Connection, with 30 boxes of the food, to be donated to the local food bank. Each box contains 36 bags, and feeds 216 people per box.

The Cairo-based organization, Kids Against Hunger, has previously packaged 2 million meals that have been shipped to victims of tsunamis and Hurricane Katrina, and has assisted the hungry people of Liberia, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Mexico and the Philippines.

Each 1.5-pound bag contains soy beans, rice, nutrients and dried vegetables. When mixed with water, each package will provide six generous portions, feeding six people, at a cost of 25 cents a meal. The shelf life of the product is two years.

College cafeteria workers prepared a sampling of the mixture for the student volunteers to try, and they pronounced it “pretty good, tasting like chicken and rice.”

People wanting to know more about the international organization fighting hunger around the world and how they may help, can find more information at www.KidsAgainstHunger.org, or visit www.kahcairo.org.