Vermont Lions rally volunteers to assemble 30,000 local meals

Volunteers from across the region gathered at the Canadian Club in Barre to pack 30,000 meals for families facing food insecurity, according to a community announcement.

The Jan. 10 event, organized by Vermont Lions Clubs, brought together club members and volunteers to assemble meals for local food shelves and community partners, according to the announcement.

The project has been running in Vermont for nine years, starting with 10,000 meals in 2017.

Carol Greene, organizer for Vermont Lions, said the project reflects a longstanding commitment to hunger relief from the organization.

Volunteers worked in assembly-line fashion, scooping, weighing, sealing and boxing meals. Teams cheered each other on and paused to recognize milestones.

The event included volunteers from Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut, who came to learn how to bring the meal-pack program to their own communities.

“This is what Lions do best: serve together and multiply impact,” according to the announcement.

This story was created by reporter Beth McDermott, bmcdermott1@usatodayco.com, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.