Meals of Hope, a Champaign-Urbana project to provide 54,000 meals to hungry families in the community, is in need of funding before the event can take place in the fall.

Larry Johnson, chair for Meals of Hope, said $4,000 has been raised so far. The group’s goal is to raise $13,000.

“I’m confident that we will be there,” he said.

Greg Damhorst, group member and graduate student, said the event will be a meal-packaging event where volunteers will measure out the food product using funnels, seal it in plastic bags, wrap and box it up for the Eastern Illinois Foodbank. The food bank will then distribute it to different agencies, he added.

Johnson said the meal contains fortified macaroni and cheese with soy flour, wheat flour, buttermilk, six different vitamins and other minerals. The packaged meal is meant to feed a family of five, and each meal costs about 24 cents. Last year was the first time the event was held locally, and it brought together 160 volunteers from the community, Johnson added.

Marsha Reardon, group member and part of the steering committee, said several different groups, such as Urbana Middle School students, boy scouts and church groups, have already committed to volunteering at the event. She said the group has not started actively recruiting for volunteers because of financial difficulties.

“Our major issue isn’t volunteers; it’s funding for it,” Reardon said.

She added that last year’s event was funded entirely by four different rotary clubs in the Champaign-Urbana area.

This year, the group has appealed to local businesses, set up a booth at the local farmer’s market, held a benefit concert that raised $1,300 and involved Urbana Middle School students who collected $800 in penny wars, all to fund the event. The group may hold another benefit concert in early September, where the goal would be to raise more than $2,000, Reardon said. It would take place at Luna, a restaurant in downtown Champaign.

“I’m looking forward to the actual day,” she added. “We’re in a crunch now to make it happen.”

She said the meals will be distributed to food pantries throughout the community.

“It will go all through the area,” Reardon added. “It will go anywhere and everywhere.”

Kristen Costello, development and volunteer coordinator at the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, said the food bank serves food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in the 14-county area. It has served 100,000 people in a year and 43,000 in a month. Each food pantry or shelter places an order at the food bank for the items it needs. In the last fiscal year, six and a half million pounds of food was distributed, Costello said.

Costello said Meals of Hope is a great project that allows people to see why the food bank is here and how many people use its services.

“It’s a great coming together of the community,” she said.

Damhorst said the Meals of Hope project is a service idea that bridges the community with the campus.

“Service is a big tradition at the University of Illinois,” he said. “This is the community engaging the campus.”

Johnson said he and his wife started this project after volunteering in Naples, Fla., for a similar event. Through their volunteering, they decided this was something that had to be done locally in Champaign-Urbana.

“It’s something that there’s a great need for in the community. We see this as filling the void,” Johnson said. “These meals will be appreciated.”