Thanks to more than 1,500 volunteers who gave up their Saturday earlier this month, Syrian refugees in Jordan soon will receive more than 240,000 meals packaged in the Quad-Cities.

But now, the interfaith activists in the Quad-Cities who decided it was time to step up and lend a hand to refugees displaced by the civil war in Syria need some help.

On Dec. 5, volunteers raised $48,847 and packaged 242,352 meals — the largest food-packaging event in Quad-Cities history — but the group needs $11,740 more to ship the goods to the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan.

Lisa Killinger, president of the Muslim Community of the Quad-Cities, Bettendorf, said she was “moved” by the community’s response.

“Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine we could come this far,” she said.

Kids Against Hunger-Your Quad-Cities, the local arm of the humanitarian food aid organization, provided the ingredients, which include:
• White, long-grain rice
• Vitamin-fortified, crushed soy
• Dehydrated blend of six vegetables
• 21 vitamins and mineral (powder)

Kids Against Hunger’s meals have been formulated by food scientists to provide malnourished children with rich sources of easily digestible protein, carbohydrates and vitamins.

The food, which does not contain any meat products, also accommodates the broad diversity of ethnic tastes and religious differences around the world, according to the humanitarian food aid organization.

Kids Against Hunger will ship the meals directly to World Vision Jordan, an aid organization located in Amman, which then will deliver the food to refugees.

Once refugee families receive the mixes, “All they have to do is boil it in eight to 10 cups of water for 20 minutes,” Pam Gettert, president of Kids Against Hunger-Your Quad-Cities, said.

“I’d love to ship it right after the first of the year,” she said.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, more than 28,600 refugees have resettled in Azraq, located about 65 miles east of the country’s capital of Amman.