Meals from the Heart

A Night of Service, Fun, and Fellowship

The Stillwater FCA huddle wanted to make a difference, so they signed up to pack meals and invited the White Bear Lake and Mahtomedi FCA huddles for some friendly competition. 25 students and three coaches packed 6,600 meals in one hour. Thousands of meals will meet a real need for many families, and it had a big impact on the students as well.

Brent Voight (FCA Area Director for the east metro) accompanied the group along with huddle coaches Mitchell Weege (Stillwater), Megan Vulgamott (White Bear), and Hannah Hensley (White Bear). The four adults were inspired by the student-athletes and saw several positives come from the night, including the level of community impact, the incredible fun, awesome team-building, and especially how the student-athletes are learning what it means to be the Church.

Community Impact and a Quality Organization

The fact that the meals packed bring Christ’s love locally is a huge motivator for the students. Ryan said, “Meals from the Heart is such an amazing organization that represents the love that Jesus has for all people.” Kylie said, “It was great to see how God is using that place to help serve our own community, the people in our own backyard.” That was Jenna’s favorite part of the evening too, “knowing the food is going to places locally and not just globally.”

The organization is well-run, and the employees and volunteers who are outstanding. Kylie said, “All of the staff that helped us were really nice and inviting. They made the whole experience flow well.” Ryan agreed, “The volunteers and workers were all so kind and knowledgeable and made me proud to be serving for my community.” Meals from the Heart is doing a great work in an excellent way which paved the way for the students to have an amazing experience.

Competition Leads to More Fun and More Meals Packed

Most of the 25 huddle members are athletes and love competition, so they brought it to their meal packing. Coach Vulgamott said, “Our students had such a blast competing with other huddles and growing closer as a group.” Charlie said, “We worked super hard and packed way more bags since it was a competition.” Ryan said, “The competition between the tables made the meal prep THAT much more fun and encouraged us to bag as many meals as possible in the short time that was given.” That friendly competition added to the level of fun for the evening but also produced more meals as each team tried to win. 

Team Building and Connection

Coach Hensley said, “Our students loved getting to be goofy and connecting with each other. I saw our kids work as a team, encourage one another, sing and dance while packing together. And some of our kids who were unsure about coming seemed very comfortable and welcomed in.” Coach Vulgamott noticed, “It was a great way to connect with other huddles in a way that is centered around service to others. Our students had such a blast competing with other huddles and growing closer as a group.”

It doesn’t seem like that short amount of time could make much difference, but it did for these athletes. Maggie said, “My absolute favorite part was looking around and seeing everyone having such a good time singing and dancing to the music while packing the food with people from their school and cheering each other on.” Building each other up drew them closer as a team and helped them be more successful in their packing.

The Church in Action

Many great things came out of the evening, but Coach Weege touched on the greatest thing: “The most enjoyable part for me was seeing the students serve alongside one another. They were having a blast packing food for people in need. This is the Church in action, and I'm blessed to witness it.” It’s a beautiful thing when Christ followers come together and go after a common goal together. The result is fun, connection, and tremendous impact. As the students get a taste for what that looks like, it will impact them for years to come. These student-athletes learned what Tanner did: “It’s amazing to make an impact in your own community for people that are in need.”