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Albemarle Rotary Club is seeking at least 90 volunteers to help with this year’s Rise Against Hunger event, which will take place at the YMCA Pavilion 10 a.m.-noon April 30.

The goal is to prepare at least 20,088 meals, which will then be sent to impoverished people around the world, and to raise at least $7,030.

Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief organization that distributes food and aid to the world’s most vulnerable, mobilizing the necessary resources to end hunger by 2030, according to its website. Since the organization was created in 1998, it has packaged more than 532 million meals that have been sent to 78 countries. Since just 2020, close to 3 million people across the world have been impacted.

RAH meals are dehydrated, high in protein and nutritious. They contain four ingredients – long grain white rice, texturized soy protein, dehydrated vegetable blend and a small bag of vitamin powder, according to the group’s website.

“This event is part of the Rotary Club’s international service area,” said Dr. Angela Mills, international service chair for the club who is coordinating the event. “Rotary’s motto is ‘Service Above Self’ and the Albemarle club continuously sponsors events to help improve our community. Therefore, we want to get the community involved in this event as part of serving others. Anyone who has helped in the past can tell you that it is a lot of fun to come together and get this job completed.”

She added that more than 40 percent of RAH meals are distributed to school feeding programs around the world. The meals help encourage school attendance and help put children and their families on a path out of poverty.

Besides helping prepare the meals, Mills said volunteers are needed to help set up for the event beginning at 8:30 a.m. and to help clean up after.

In 2020, 158 volunteers, including Scout groups, school groups, church groups, elected officials and many others, helped pack 20,088 meals at the Stanly Family YMCA gymnasium, where they finished in record time. The Rotary Club was not able to host the event last year due to the pandemic.

People wanting to help can register online at events.riseagainsthunger.org/Rotary Albemarle  (there is a space between Rotary and Albemarle). They can also contact Dr. Angela Mills at millsa1974@yahoo.com or 704-984-0218.

Donations can also be made to the Albemarle Rotary Club, PO Box 333, Albemarle, NC 28002.