newburyport &mdash on saturday, nov. 22 at 10 a.m., central congregational church ucc in newburyport will sponsor a &ldquopackaging event&rdquo for stop hunger now, an international hunger relief agency. seeking to eliminate world hunger in our lifetime, stop hunger now was founded in 1998 by a united methodist pastor. the group provides food to people in crisis situations and to children in schools and orphanages in the developing world.in 2005, stop hunger now launched the packaging program which the newburyport church is hosting on saturday. volunteers gather to assemble meals consisting of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and flavoring.the meals are nutritious, high in protein, and easily stored and shipped. each meal costs approximately 29 cents and has a shelf life of two years.&ldquoi participated in a packaging event at a methodist church in annandale, virginia and it was an amazing experience that i wanted to share with my church,&rdquo said jean moore, cochair of the christian outreach committee at central. &ldquolarge quantities of bulk foods were delivered and quickly processed into individual servings by a group of volunteers.&rdquo at a typical packaging event, 10,000 meals are prepared in two hours.the event at central will include 60 to 70 volunteers from many local groups including st. paul&rsquos episcopal and belleville ucc. other volunteers will come from the boy scouts, rotary clubs in amesbury and newburyport, veterans and neighborhood organizations.  members of the coast guard will help unload the bulk food products from the delivery trucks. additional volunteers are welcome to attend the church is also soliciting financial contributions to help cover the cost of the bulk food.source httpwww.newburyportnews.comnewslocalnewsportchurchhostsstophungernowpacking…
