EAST COBB, Ga. — On Saturday, dozens of people gathered at Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church to prepare 25,000 meals for MUST Ministries.
“They're going to be able to distribute the meals to the children that are out of school,” Patricia Koutouzis, president of the Philoptochos Society of Marietta, said. “Most of them would be receiving their breakfast and lunch at school, Monday through Friday. Now, they're not going to be able to receive that.”
It was an unusual site to see nearly 100 people working together in the same room, considering so many events have been cancelled to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. The event was coordinated by Hunger Fight.
“Our priest sent out an email to our parish to inform them that we were still going ahead with this event, because we felt it was so important,” Koutouzis said. “We stressed if anyone was of the age group that could possibly get the virus, or if anyone felt that they had a fever or if they weren't feeling well, to please stay away. We only wanted anyone who felt comfortable coming.”
Before entering the meal prep area, every participant had to sanitize their hands. They also had to wear hairnets and gloves while inside the room, and they were not allowed to touch their cellphones.
Three types of meals were prepared, including oatmeal, cheesy macaroni, and rice with beans.
“All of the food packages are fortified with extra vitamins to make them additionally healthy,” Koutouzis said. “It only takes boiling water to cook them. Some of the children will be in extended stays. They will be in an area where they really don't have a kitchen available to them. But with these meals, they can just put it in a pot or a container, add boiling water, and they've got a healthy meal to eat.”
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