This year Learning in the Community will be organizing the 15th annual Into the Streets with a very special event: Into the Streets for Haiti.

So this year Washburn University students in the LinC Scholar/Bonner Leaders AmeriCorps program will partner with Washburn Christian Challenge and Numana Inc. to provide meals for the people of Haiti. On May 2, 2010, participants will gather at Ag Hall at the Kansas Expocentre to package food for transportation directly to Haiti.

Starting at 10:00 a.m., members of the Topeka community are encouraged to join in the food-packaging event. With a goal to box up 285,120 meals, at least 2,260 volunteers are needed to participate.  

Included in each meal is rice, soy, freeze-dried vegetables, chicken flavoring along with 21 vitamins to aid the immune system. The cost to package and ship each meal is 30 cents, or $85,000 to reach the goal of 285,120 individually packaged meals. Donations can be made to Learning in the Community,  405 Benton Hall,Washburn University, Topeka, KS 66621 attention Numana Topeka.

Once packaged, the Salvation Army World Services will deliver the meals to Kansas City. After being flown to Miami, the meals will get transferred to either Port-au-Prince or the Dominican Republic and then distributed to individuals who have been displaced by the earthquake. The food will take approximately seven to 10 days to arrive.

 Numana Inc., an international hunger relief organization, headquartered in El Dorado, KS provides volunteers and donors with opportunities to serve others. Through food packaging events funded by corporate sponsors, local community members prepare meals to be shipped to countries in need.

If you are interested in participating you can contact the LinC office at ext 2117 or respond to