Next week, the Cave Springs-based nonprofit The Pack Shack is hosting a party that promises to give back. 500K for NWA will bring together hundreds of folks to pack 500,000 meals for their neighbors experiencing food insecurity.
Bret Raymond is co-founder and CEO of The Pack Shack. He joined Ozarks at Large’s Jack Travis over Zoom to explain the event, its impact and how you can get involved. Raymond says 500K for NWA is a giant “feed the funnel” party:
Raymond: So we’re bringing people together to literally create the meals that will be distributed to three school districts and 10 other nonprofits around Northwest Arkansas to help our neighbors affected by food insecurity.
Travis: How will this practically work? What can people who are signing up expect to do?
Raymond: Yeah, so when people come, when they sign up for a one- or two-hour shift, they’ll come to the Embassy Suites and put on a hairnet and literally create the rice and bean meals that we’ll be packing that will be distributed all over Northwest Arkansas. So it’s a high-energy assembly line with some awesome music, a giant gong involved, and lots of fun with your friends making a difference.
Travis: And what’s the target audience for this? Is this individuals, businesses, groups of friends maybe?
Raymond: Yeah. Ideally, you know, people will come with whatever group they’re a part of. So if you’re a work team, this is a great team-building activity. If you’re part of a faith-based organization, there are opportunities for you to be involved. We have groups of friends, we have sports teams. It’s really like, who do you want to come with and have some fun and help make an impact in the community?
Travis: And it costs some money to do so. I’m just curious: Why charge people for this experience?
Raymond: Yeah, that’s a great question. You know, to produce 500,000 meals, it takes a lot of ingredients. We actually have a truckload of rice, a truckload of beans, seasoning, dried bell peppers, packaging, all of the equipment and supplies that are needed to make this happen.
So when you do the math on it, it comes out to about 40 cents per meal, which is a bargain. If you come for a one-hour shift, in that amount of time as part of a team, you’ll pack 200 meals. So 200 meals times 40 cents is $80. If you come for a one-hour shift again, that’s going to produce 200 meals for people who need them.
If you stay for or come for a two-hour shift, you can expect to pack 400 meals at 40 cents a meal. So that’s $160. You know, again, I go back to that cost per meal — at 40 cents per meal is just an incredible value for people.
The meals that we’re packing are plant-based, clean label, allergen-, gluten-, dairy-free meals that taste fantastic. So you know that you can be proud of what you’re packing. They can be distributed to a very, very wide audience with various dietary needs. So it’s really a terrific experience all the way around.
Travis: This is all staying within our community. It’s benefiting NWA nonprofits. What impact does this have? What have you heard from those nonprofits?
Raymond: Well, you know, we’ve been interviewing all of the nonprofit recipients and school district recipients. So Fayetteville, Springdale, and Rogers school districts will be receiving meals — the NWA Food Bank, Samaritan Center, Feed the 479, Life Source, God’s Pantry out in Garfield, Maysville Bible Church. I mean, it’s all over.
And here’s the current situation. We knew back in January with budget changes for food banks and food assistance programs, and now with the current shutdown, which we hope will be resolved soon, that on top of inflation on food prices and everything, individuals, families, and households are under increasing pressure, and there’s a lot of stress everywhere across Arkansas and across the country for that matter.
We’re seeing and hearing the need for food assistance is greatly increasing. And so, you know, we can look at that and point a lot of fingers, do whatever. But really, what I’m excited about 500K for NWA is because this brings neighbors together to help neighbors. And that’s really the strength of our community here in Northwest Arkansas and across our state — that we help one another in times of need.
And we’re just seeing a significant increase in need in this way right now. So 500K for NWA is just a tremendous opportunity, like I said, for neighbors to pack meals that are going to stay right here in our community to help our neighbors affected by all the various conditions that are resulting in an increase in food insecurity right now.
Travis: And of course, behind this three-day event is The Pack Shack. Can you tell me about how 500K for NWA fits into your greater mission?
Raymond: Yeah. So The Pack Shack started — our first Feed the Funnel party was in March of 2014. And it was a community party like this. Nine hundred people came together, packed over 200,000 meals. The following year we did that again, and over 1,300 people came and packed over 325,000 meals.
So this is something that’s been part of our beginnings and is part of our DNA. We haven’t hosted a large community party like this for 10 years, and solely because we were packing meals all over the place. And it’s a big lift — a lot of time and energy goes into it to pull it together and to make it happen.
But this year, because, like I said, of all the factors that are influencing food insecurity, we thought this was an excellent time to rally the community and come together and help one another.
Travis: If you can’t be there on the day at the Embassy Suites — Nov. 13-15 — there other ways to support this cause, right?
Raymond: Yeah. If you want to be part of 500K for NWA but can’t be there, you can sponsor spots for other people to participate. We like to get high school students involved — they all need service hours to count toward graduation, so that’s a great way for high school students to be involved.
If you’re a local business and you want to get your holiday offering in front of people, we have gift bag options that you can select right from the website. And hopefully, you know, the best thing is if you can bring a team, rally a team, or sponsor a team — any of those things help us get to this goal.
If you can’t make it but still want to pack meals at some point with your group, we do this year-round at The Pack Shack. You can bring your group to our groovy party room here in Cave Springs, complete with disco ball.
And we also travel nationwide with what we do. So if you’re part of a group somewhere outside of Northwest Arkansas, or your group is going to have a meeting or conference in another city, we can come there as well and pack meals with your group. So keep us in mind for all your awesome team-building community service activities at ThePackShack.org.
Travis: Where can people go to learn more and explore those sponsorship and participation opportunities as well?
Raymond: Yeah. Everything — information, tickets, sponsorship info — is all available at 500KforNWA.com, and that will take you right to the registration page. You can select a shift to participate in, you can register a team, you can sponsor spots for others, and you can purchase a gift bag promotion opportunity there. So 500KforNWA.com is the one-stop shop for everything related to this coming up in November.
Travis: And now, Brett, I am curious about one thing. You said there’s a gong involved? Please tell me about that.
Raymond: Yeah. So, you know, we’ve always said that when you volunteer and when you serve, it should be a lot of fun. So we crank up some rowdy music. But every Feed the Funnel party starts with a gong smash. And I mean, it’s like a three-foot gong. It’s not a small little gong. This is a big gong.
And throughout the party, as we hit different milestones, individuals will come up and take their turn hitting the gong. And then, of course, each shift will finish with a gong smash as well. So it really keeps the energy going. People love it, can’t wait for their opportunity to hit the gong.
So if nothing else, come out, enjoy some great music curated by our DJs, and come and hit the gong.
Travis: 500KforNWA.com, Nov. 13-15 at the Embassy Suites in Rogers.
Raymond: Yeah, and if I could, Jack, can I give a shoutout to Embassy Suites because they’ve donated the space for this. 500K for NWA is, you know, The Pack Shack kind of leading the charge on it, but we couldn’t do it without Embassy Suites donating the space.
Riviana Foods has donated 40,000 pounds of rice to this. Sage Partners has been a great partner in advocating and spreading the word. And the list goes on and on. We’ve had a number of other organizations that are like, “Hey, this is what we do, we want to help be a part of this in our skill set.”
And so it’s really been a great collective community effort to get it to this point. Hopefully, we’ll have a great turnout here in about three weeks, and we’re counting on NWA showing up and packing these meals. It’s going to be fantastic.
That was Bret Raymond with The Pack Shack, speaking with Ozarks at Large’s Jack Travis. You can visit 500KforNWA.com or ThePackShack.org for more information about next week’s event.
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