Will I eat today? and will I be able to feed my children today? are two of the most pressing questions heard throughout Haiti. Determined to help alleviate these desperate concerns, The Rotary Club of Tryon is asking for the communitys help with achieving its goal of packing 325,000 meals for the children of Haiti in one day.

The massive volunteer packaging event is scheduled for April 17 in Hendersonville and represents a united effort of the Rotary Clubs of Tryon, Thermal Belt, Arden, Brevard, Flat Rock, Fletcher, Hendersonville, and Pisgah Forest. At $.25 cents per meal it will take $81,250 to pay for the food.

This project is part of a larger Stop Hunger Now/Rotarians against Hunger campaign in which all Rotary Clubs in western North Carolina have pledged to provide a total of one million meals for Haiti. The local packaging event has been in the works since last year, long before the earthquake devastated the already impoverished nation.

Since Stop Hunger Now understands the urgent need for an ongoing relief effort, it will continue sending meals to Haiti long after the news media will have left for new stories and new places.

Stop Hunger Now has earned the Charity Navigator highest 4-star rating indicating that the program executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way. Once the 325,000 meals are packaged on April 17 they will be placed on a container which is then sealed for shipment to Haiti.

Distribution in Haiti will take place with the help of the local Rotary Clubs in order to ensure direct delivery to the needy. Nutritious meals will be made available in local schools so that the gift of food will go hand in hand with the gift of literacy.

Every six seconds a child dies from a cause related to hunger in this world. Malnutrition and diarrhea kill 20 to 28 percent of children under the age of five. The Rotary Club of Tryon is hoping to fund these 325,000 meals for Haiti and to change these gruesome statistics for the better.

All donations for Haiti made between January 12 and March 12 will be tax deductible for tax year 2009. Here is how you can become involved: checks can be sent to The Rotary Club of Tryon Foundation, P.O. Box 923, Tryon N.C. 28782.

If you or your organization would like more information or would like to participate in the packing event on April 17, you can contact Charles McKeller who is chairing this event for The Rotary Club of Tryon.