A helping hand

RATHDRUM - Maddie Snyders recently lent a helping hand to needy children around the world.

The 12-year-old Rathdrum girl helped a team pack 308,240 meals in five two-hour shifts in American Falls in southern Idaho for the first Feed My Starving Children mobile Potato Manna Pack.

"I wanted to use my hands to help somebody," Snyders said. "I thought that every person counts."

Dehydrated potato granules made up 90 percent of each manna pack, and Idaho is the top producer of dehydrated potato products. The packs also included soy protein and other vitamins and minerals and are packaged in labeled and sealed plastic bags.

They include ingredients tailor-made to meet the needs of those affected by diarrhea. That affliction is the No. 1 cause of death among malnourished children.

Also packaged by FMSC is the Rice Manna Pack, which includes rice, soy nuggets, vitamins and minerals and dehydrated vegetables.

Both manna packs are simply added to water.

"Helping out made me feel great," Snyders said. "We packed food that was shipped to Haiti and places in Africa. All they have to do is add water, and that's their food for the day."

Snyders, whose family has roots to potato farming in southern Idaho, said she met volunteers from across the country, including Maine, Tennessee and Maryland.

"It was fun meeting everyone," she said.

The United States Potato Board partnered with FMSC and the Idaho Potato Commission to bring the mobile packing group of FMSC to Idaho. FMSC is a Christian nonprofit hunger relief organization founded in 1987.

Though the ingredients are purchased by donated money, the manna packs are all produced by volunteers. Each meal costs 19 cents to produce and 94 percent of total donations to FMSC goes directly to the feeding program.

In 2009, more than 416,000 volunteers joined FMSC to package more than 96 million meals for children around the world.

Information: www.fmsc.org.