The Leamington Meat Canning Project has been feeding people worldwide for 20 years.
A mobile meat canner will be making a stop in Leamington Monday — processing and canning more than 10,000kg of chicken until May 3. That's according to volunteer Martin Rahn.
He says more than 400 people will donate their time to process Ontario chicken purchased with funds raised for the project over the past year. "It's become a well-oiled machine and we have volunteers from at least 30 different church organizations and people that don't have any church affiliation," Rahn says.
Some people even pay-it-forward, according to Rahn.
"We call it sweat equity, you sweat on the line. We have some people that have received canned food and food aid in the past," says Rahn, who has 33-years of food inspection experience. "It's a very rewarding project."
Rahn has volunteered since the project began locally back in 1997 and says he doesn't see himself ever giving it up.
"It would be great if the need for food aid would expire but I don't see that happening ever, there's always going to be hungry people in the world," says Rahn. "I think there's a call for the more fortunate among us to share with the less fortunate."
More than 30,000 people a year volunteer to fill, weigh, wash and label cans in the US and Canada every year.
CLICK HERE to learn more on how to take part.