Smith students pack 4,000 meals for charity

Smith Elementary School students spent time on their last day of school this year making a difference in the lives of others.

At the annual Family Fun Day event May 31, representatives from the Lesotho Nutrition Initiative were on hand to organize a packing event. The Oakwood students were able to choose the meal packing as one of their activities during Family Day.

“It is such an honor to be a part of a school where kids work together, even on the last day of school, to care about and give to others. They raised their own money to purchase the supplies and their own efforts to create and surpass the goal of 3,000 in 1.5 hours,” Interim Principal Traci Hummer said.

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Smith students packed more than 4,000 meals during their event. Each meal packet feeds six people.

The Lesotho Nutrition Initiative is a nonprofit organization that has packed and sent thousands of meals to children in the South African nation. In Lesotho, a country of more than two million people, there are approximately 360,000 orphans and other children facing severe malnutrition.

Ranked by the United Nations as one of the 30 poorest countries in the world, citizens also suffer from an alarmingly high rate of HIV. Additionally, due to poor soil and other climatic conditions, Lesotho is only able to produce about 10 percent of its own food.

Three years ago a small group of students and faculty from Wittenberg University organized the non-profit Lesotho Nutrition Initiative to pack and send meals, with the help of area supporters.

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