BUCKINGHAM — It takes a village to raise a child, according to the African proverb.

And, many times, it takes a village to help a community in need — especially when they don’t know where their next meal is coming from or whether it even will come at all.

For five years, the Buckingham-based James River Baptist Association (JRBA) has been working to change that insecurity by pulling its member churches together to participate in Stop Hunger Now meal-packing events aimed at ending world hunger.

According to JRBA’s secretary and event coordinator Phyllis Tyler, who’s a member of Mulberry Grove Baptist Church, 124 volunteers from 12 member churches came together at Maysville Baptist Church’s multipurpose center to help.

Not only did the volunteers leave with the satisfaction of knowing they packed, weighed and sealed 20,690 meals, but they also left with a sense of satisfaction of compassion, love and helping others.

It was their seventh event since 2010 when the JRBA first got involved in the ministry. Since then, church members across Buckingham and Cumberland have packaged more than 153,000 meals, feeding the hungry in Haiti, Uganda, the Philippines, Cambodia, Zimbabwe and the Ivory Coast.

Tyler says the JRBA became involved after representatives attended a Baptist conference in Eagle Eyrie where Stop Hunger Now was highlighted. She calls it a hands-on event and an effort that can be performed in a short period of time with a lot of people.

It all starts, Tyler explained, by the JRBA setting an event day with Stop Hunger Now and collecting donations from member churches.

“We put it out there for people to contribute to it. It’s 29 cents a meal …,” she said. The number of meal supplies that are shipped is contingent on the donations from the member churches.

Tyler says all that’s needed for the operation is labor, an empty space and tables. “They bring everything else you need,” she said, describing the large boxes of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and vitamins and minerals that make up each packed bag.

There is a real sense of everyone being involved who wants to be involved, the former educator said, adding that to her, it’s exciting to think about providing meals for hungry people around the world.

“Every time there’s a natural disaster, Stop Hunger Now is there … . Sometimes they go to schools in Third World countries, and provide the midday meal,” she said.

Tyler called it a tremendous blessing to know that the volunteers’ efforts were going to hungry and starving children.

Each bag, after it’s packed and sealed, measures about 6 inches to 8 inches, “and that has enough food in it, when mixed with water, to feed six people … That one little bag,” Tyler said.

“We had a wonderful experience,” Jimmy Dunn, the pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church in Dillwyn and moderator of JRBA, told The Herald. “Knowing that for each 29 cents we give a person, usually a child, will have a wholesome meal, when often they’ve never had one. That gives me a lot of satisfaction.”

He said the volunteers at the event included “2-year-olds to about 90-year-olds all pitching in, working together … . That was a lot of satisfaction.”

Ruth Wallace, a member of Chestnut Grove Baptist Church, volunteered at the event with her two girls, Minnie, 11, and Emma, who’s 6. Wallace has worked every Stop Hunger Now event since 2010.

“It was something my daughter Minnie and I started doing together, and she has done it every year since. And, my younger daughter, Emma, just started with us this year.”

Wallace, a local 4-H Extension agent, called the event a way of showing compassion and support to people abroad who are hungry and starving. “And, kind of spread[ing] God’s love at the same time through that effort.”

She says her oldest child used to stick right by her during the events. “She’s moved on [now] to her own workstation … independently of me. That’s something that Minnie looks forward to every year, because it’s her opportunity to help others.”

As for Emma, she stuck right by her mother, but acted as a runner between stations. “I know they enjoyed themselves … I know Minnie gets an awful lot out of it,” Wallace said.

According to Tyler, JRBA raised over $5,500 to purchase the food from Stop Hunger Now and received contributions from the Baptist General Association of Virginia.

Antioch Union, Arvon, Buckingham, Cedar, Chestnut Grove, First Baptist Dillwyn, Gladstone Memorial, Goshen, Jones Chapel, Mt. Zion, Mulberry Grove, Sharon and Tar Wallet Baptist churches all contributed financially, according to Tyler. Volunteers came from Arvon Baptist, Buckingham Baptist, Chestnut Grove Baptist, First Baptist Dillwyn, Goshen, Jones Chapel, Mt. Zion, Mulberry Grove, Sharon, Maysville Baptist, Rocky Mount United Methodist and Culpeper United Methodist churches.

Founded in 1998, Stop Hunger Now has provided more than 180 million meals in 65 countries, according to a JRBA press release. “Meals are distributed through feeding programs operated by partner organizations in developing countries … Stop Hunger Now is driven by the vision of a world without hunger.”