A collaboration of the aid organization Outreach Northeast and the Brooklyn-based So Percussion Summer Institute will bring the two organizations together on Sunday, July 26 to assemble 20,000 servings of nutritionally balanced meals for clients of The Crisis Ministry of Mercer County.

More than one and a half tons of the donated macaroni and cheese meals will be packaged Sunday at Princeton University’s Woolworth Hall, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The meals will then go Monday to The Crisis Ministry’s three food pantries for customers who are food-insecure.

So Percussion Summer Institute’s four members are performing in and around Princeton and leading percussion and composition workshops and master classes through August 2. The nonprofit Outreach Program, based in Iowa and with its Northeast branch in Massachusetts, is on track to package and distribute a total of three million meals to hungry people worldwide by the end of 2015.

That organization provides the ingredients for the meals and the materials and expertise for packaging. So Percussion participants raised the funds for the food, and will have 40 participants packaging and boxing on Sunday. 

Matthew Martin, Director of Outreach Northeast, said he is pleased to work with Josh Quillen of So Percussion, beginning what promises to be an effective and meaningful partnership with The Crisis Ministry. “Josh wanted to give the students some sense of hunger in the area,” says Mr. Martin, “When I told him that over 400,000 go hungry just in Mercer and the seven adjacent counties that surround it, he was blown away. He has already pledged to make this an annual event.”

Carolyn Biondi, the Crisis Ministry’s Executive Director, adds, “We welcome this remarkable effort on behalf of the clients who turn to us when facing food insecurity. This generous donation makes our Hunger Prevention and Healthy Living services even more effective, and allows for greater choice for the clients who shop in our pantries or receive Home Food Delivery.”

For more information about the Crisis Ministry, visit thecrisisministry.org or call (609) 396-9355.