In one hour, approximately 20 business students filled 3,000 plastic bags with a special food mixture and packed them in boxes for a 2,000-mile journey to Haiti.

Their efforts took place in the Pappajohn Business Building’s galleria Wednesday, where the students scooped soy, vegetables, vitamins, and rice for the organization, Kids Against Hunger.

"It reaches out to so many people and affects so many lives," said Lucy Krol, a junior management major and senator for the Tippie College of Business.

The organization is a humanitarian food-aid bank that tries reduce the number of hungry children in the USA and around the world.

The food packages, which Jennifer Lee, a Kids Against Hunger co-director from Cedar Rapids, said cost 25 cents each, will be sent to the port of Labadee, Haiti.

Students worked together to fill, weigh, and seal the bags.

"The assembly-line process helps things run very smoothly, and the most important was to recruit students and faculty to work the line," Krol said.

This was the third food-package event that Kids Against Hunger has done at the UI. The organization visits other schools as well. Lee was among a group that packed 4,000 meals at Madison Elementary in Cedar Rapids before coming to the UI event.

Money needed to purchase the bags, food, and other materials came in from Kohl’s, Hy-Vee, and the New Pioneer Co-Op, as well as a $200 grant the from the business school.

The student business senators said they want to hold the event next semester.

Christian Ferree, a junior studying business and Spanish education, said helping at the event was a great opportunity to complete a few of the 10 volunteer hours required for his stress-management class.

"It’s stress relieving that you’re helping out a cause," he said.

Finance major and UI junior Jennifer Hovda said it would be a great idea to help out and raising awareness for Kids Against Hunger.

"Little things like this are a great way to get involved," she said.

Krol said that although this event was a great opportunity for students and faculty to discuss the lasting devastation in Haiti, they also made a real difference.

"I think bringing the event into the galleria made the event a success because it was visible in the business school and made people stop and help," Krol said. "Even if it was in between classes, they were still able to make a meal or two."