Needham Packs 3 Millionth Meal for Haiti
April 28, 2025
• A spring tradition encourages community service and represents a source of pride for St. Joseph Parish and the greater community.
Of the 12 million people who live in Haiti, half of them go hungry, and more than two million are severely food insecure, according to the United Nations’ World Food Programme. At Hôpital de Sacré-Cœur in northern Haiti, many in-patients are malnourished, prompting unconventional health care intervention: food.
Needham volunteers helped package that very food, which will be sent to the Milot hospital to feed those in need. Close to 100 participants assisted Saturday afternoon, with a goal of reaching 750,000 meals by the end of the weekend.
As “Sweet Caroline” played out over the speakers at Needham’s Knights of Columbus, volunteers sang and smiled, scooping up rice, dried beans, protein powder and dry vegetable powder into every bag. Soon, they reached a milestone: 3 million meals packed across the country for Haiti.
“A 1,000-mile walk starts with a step. We took that first step, and now it’s taking up steam,” organizer Mike Gillis said. “It really gives you an incredible feeling inside.”
Gillis, a parishioner at St. Joseph, said the packathon began in response to the pandemic, which disrupted Haiti’s food supply. The church community partnered with the Holy Name Foundation, a New Jersey-based organization that supports Hôpital de Sacré-Cœur and ships the meals out. The packathon is now five years in the running.
More than 400 people signed up to pack meals this year, Gillis said.
“I think what makes it so infectious is that people participate. Most charities, you go to a dinner and give a check, or you just write a check and that’s the end of it,” Gillis said. “But here, they’re in there making the meals.”
Feed the Hunger supplied the pallets of dry ingredients, which volunteers scooped, weighed and sealed up. Boxes of food quickly filled the small space.
Cathleen Davey, president of the Holy Name Foundation, said they not only address widespread starvation through meals, but also through farmland — they’ve planted about 135 acres to enable residents to help themselves.
The packathon serves as a stark reminder for local youth and puts their own life experience in a broader global context, Davey said.
“This is the only choice these children have in Haiti. Many days they do not get a full meal, and they have no choice,” Davey said. “We try to say to our kids, ‘You’re going to open the refrigerator, there’s so much there.’ Just for the children that are participating, just for them to make that connection, how fortunate they are, how blessed they are.”
Yohanna Sevigny, of St. Joseph Parish, assisted in the effort alongside her two young children. Originally from Colombia, which itself faces human rights dilemmas, Sevigny said the packathon touched her personally.
Sevigny travels to Colombia with her son, 11, and daughter, 9, every summer and helps them understand how different their lives could be.
“I’m hoping they are learning to always give and not just to expect to receive,” Sevigny said during the packathon. “We have to try to help other people that didn’t get that good luck or fortune.”
Haiti’s impoverishment resonates with Jenny Lockwood Mullaney — her friend served in Haiti’s foreign service and observed the hardship residents face. The timing of the packathon also coincides with a period of mourning within the Catholic community, she added.
“Being the week that Pope Francis died, I think it’s a good opportunity to come together as a faith community,” she said.
After this weekend, a truck transported the meals to a warehouse in Hackensack, N.J., where they’ll then be shipped to Milot. Davey said the boxes come through Cap-Haïtien, avoiding the gang violence prevalent in Port-au-Prince. Davey estimates delivery will take about two to three months, when the food will then be distributed to children, schools, the elderly and other vulnerable populations.
“We’re doing anything we can to work against that starvation that’s there,” she said.
The statistics are unsettling, which motivates Gillis to set his expectations higher each year. Seeing photos of Haitian children with their St. Joe’s boxes puts their impact into perspective. The 3 million milestone serves as a testament to the Needham community, Gillis said.
“When I get up there for church, I say, ‘We need five things: One, we need prayers, two, we need prayers, three, prayers, four, volunteers and five, donations,’” he said, “because without the prayers, those other two things wouldn’t happen.”
