KALONA

The Mennonite Central Committee’s mobile canning trailer will once again roll into Kalona next month, ready for volunteers to get to work canning meat that will provide relief to people in need around the world.

Last year local volunteers gathered at the City of Kalona Maintenance Building to process 17,000 pounds of chicken meat; this year turkey meat is on the menu, with the goal of filling 11,150 cans.

Every year the MCC sends out four canning trailers to 34 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada to can turkey, beef, chicken, and pork. In areas where people lack sufficient food sources, and children are often malnourished, the nutrients in meat are especially valued. In the fiscal year ending March 2023, the MCC sent 383,040 cans of meat to Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Malawi, South Sudan, Ukraine, Zambia, Puerto Rico, and parts of the U.S.

The meat canning events, which the MCC initiated in 1946 in reaction to the devastation in post-war Europe, involve 50-100 volunteers, who grind and salt the meat (which arrives in deboned pieces), fill and weigh cans, and stack them in baskets. The sealed cans are then washed and labeled before being boxed and palletized.

For two days, the maintenance building and docked trailer become a veritable factory, complete with machinery, hair nets, aprons, and assembly lines.

The cost to can 17,000 pounds of turkey is about $40,000, an amount southeast Iowa churches must raise.

Volunteers are needed for to fill open shifts on three days, starting with set-up on the afternoon of Wednesday, Dec. 6 and throughout the day Dec. 7 and 8. Midday and evening meals are provided. To sign up, go to signupgenius.com/go/30E044DAEAC28ABF58-45054353-southeast#/ or contact Sylvan Schlabach at 319-461-3417.

Meat canning takes place at the City of Kalona Maintenance Building, 717 A Avenue, Kalona.

Monetary contributions can be sent to Iowa Mennonite MCC Relief, PO Box 234, Kalona, IA 52247.