Sawyer Allen didn’t know exactly what he was scooping and pouring into a bag, but the Cathedral seventh grader did know it would help feed hungry kids in his community.

Allen was one of hundreds of students and volunteers who participated in a meal-packing event Friday hosted by the Cathedral Key Club.

The event was in conjunction with the organization’s weekend district conference, which brought Key Club members from Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee to Natchez.

The students and community volunteers packaged nearly 70,000 bags of food through the non-profit organization, Kids Against Hunger.

The meals include four readily available and dry ingredients that are easy to package, maintain for long periods and require only boiling water to prepare, said Kids Against Hunger Executive Director Warren Davis.

“The goal with these meals was to make them very healthy, taste good and have a long shelf life,” Davis said. “The other part is to (allow) the kids or group packing the meals to choose where they want the meals to go.”

Cathedral teacher and Key Club advisor Jean Benoit said the students decided early on in the planning stages all the meals packaged at the event would stay in the community.

“All the meals will be going to local churches, groups, the Stewpot and anyone else who needs it,” Benoit said. “We really wanted to make sure it would all stay here locally in the community.”

But before those organizations could come pick up their boxes, the students and volunteers had to work to fill up each bag of food to fill the boxes that eventually lined the walls of the Natchez Community Center.

The students and volunteers were assigned specific duties in the assembly-line process of collecting the bags of food.

Allen, who was surrounded by his fellow seventh grade students, was in charge of scooping and pouring vitamin and mineral powder into the bag.

His classmates added scoops of dehydrated vegetables, vitamin-fortified and crushed soy and rice before passing the bag to the packaging stage.

One volunteer holds the bag under a heat sealer before another checks it one last time and tosses it into a box.

The process of scooping and pouring the materials, Allen said, became like second nature and even enjoyable after a while.

“I’m having fun,” Allen said. “The best thing, though, is that it’s all for a good cause.”

Thinking about the meals Allen eats each day compared to the ones being packed made him realize how fortunate he is.

“If we can make a difference, I’m all for it,” Allen said. “I’m just glad to be able to help any way I can.”

The Cathedral Key Club received a $10,000 grant through Kiwanis International Foundation to purchase more food to pack.

To request a food delivery, call Cathedral School at 601-442-2531 or email keyclubrachel@gmail.com.