- December 7, 2025
Neil Nugent, of Ormond Beach, prepares to fill up a box destined for Burkina Faso, West Africa.
12 year old Kate Corbett and Mom Carolyn of Ormond Beach work together to fill a bag with rice using a funnel.
Eoin Burgoyne, 4 of Ormond Beach pitches in by opening bags prior to having rice added as well as adding a nutritional supplement to the bag.
Volunteers lined up on both sides of several tables and worked together to package meals heading to West Africa.
With empty boxes waiting to be filled, Ormond Beach's Matt Gabriel works at a frantic pace to get the job done.
Rigo Vega, director of discipleship at Prince of Peace Catholic Church poses for a photo with hardworking first shift volunteers in the background.
Alysha Torres, 16 of Ormond Beach, Isabella Scorpio, 16 of Ormond Beach and Jennifer Russell of Daytona, all representing the Spruce Creek Beta Club take a break for a photo at the event.
Chris Lawrence of Ormond Beach gives his seal of approval as he closes the bagged meals before sending them off to be boxed.
Carson Frasier, 12 and Camille Sanabrai, both of Ormond Beach work together on building heavy duty boxes for the meals to be shipped in.
Victor Dean of Daytona Beach organizes the finished meals before they are boxed and shipped to West Africa.
A collaboration between Catholic Relief Services, Rise Against Hunger, and Prince of Peace Catholic Church on Sept. 23 brought community members together to help those in need more than 5,000 miles away.
The event's goal was to pack 50,000 meals for Catholic Relief Services to distribute to the people of Burkina Faso through one of 20 centers in the Western African nation. The event was run by Rigo Vega, director of discipleship at Prince of Peace Catholic Church.
"We hope to create awareness about global poverty and hunger," he said. "We also hope to reach out and engage many people in our own community who want to serve others but don't always know how to get started. Our desire is that people see our parish church as a community that is compassionate and proactive about doing the work of God. Our Catholic faith inspires us to love God by serving our neighbor especially those who are most in need."
Helping Hands was funded by members of the church who regularly serves dozens of local families in need through their Social Services Ministry. Over 450 people volunteered making the goal of 50,000 meals a success.
