To pack thousands of filling, nutritious meals for people in the Memphis area who might otherwise go hungry,  the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis is looking for more than just a few good volunteers.  Actually, they’d like to have about 450.

The Fogelman Feeds volunteers will work Saturday, Oct. 22, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the atrium of the Fogelman College building at the corner of Central and Patterson, packaging family servings  – 60,000 of them is this year’s goal – from large, bulk containers of rice, beans, and macaroni and cheese.  The packages, with six meals in each, will be delivered to the Memphis Food Bank for eventual delivery to people who need them.

Lunch will be provided for the volunteers, and there will be entertainment throughout the day.  Drawings for prizes for the volunteers will also take place during the event.

The food will be provided in bulk, in 10-pound sacks.  All other materials needed for the volunteers, such as packaging materials, gloves, hairnets, and hand sanitizer, will be provided by Outreach International, an Iowa-based organization that provides those kinds of supplies for Fogelman Feeds-type events that prepare meals for distribution the world over.

Coordinator of this year’s event, Laura Edwards, of the Economic Club of Memphis, said anyone 10 years old or older is welcome to participate.  “This is not limited to business students,” she said.  “We encourage faculty, staff, their families, and student organizations to participate. “

Fogelman Feeds takes place under the auspices of the Fogelman College’s Avron B. Fogelman Center for Professional Career Development.  This is the second such event; the first, held last spring on Fogelman Promise Day and running only one ‘assembly line,’ packaged more than 10,000 meals.

Memphis has one of  highest rates of hunger anywhere in the United States.  In 2010, more than one-fourth of the population of this area was unable to buy sufficient food for their families.  Fogelman Feeds II hopes to reduce that heartbreaking statistic.

For more information, contact Laura Edwards at 901-678-2443 or ledwrds1@memphis.edu.