South Florida residents Kristine and Samuel Miro have been active in community service for most of their lives, leading mission efforts through their church.

“I think everyone deserves an opportunity of life,” Samuel Miro said.

This weekend, the couple will join 10,000 others who are expected to take time off their busy schedules to pack meals for hungry children as part of the non-profit Feed My Starving Children’s A Year Without Hunger, which is organizing a three-day packing event Friday through Sunday at the Miami-Dade County Fair and Expo Center’s Fuchs Hall, 10901 SW 24 St.

The packed meals will be distributed to the Caribbean and Central America.

Volunteers will pack meals in two-hour shifts. All volunteers will have a 20-minute orientation before packing meals. Minimum age is 5.

Students will receive volunteer hours.

“They actually get to see how people live in other countries and the hardships they go through to just find food,” said event host Melissa Cedeño. “They get to participate first hand in being a solution to the world hunger problem. Their hands are the last hands to touch the meals before a starving child eats it.”

The goal is to pack 2 million meals. It will allow 5,000 children to live without hunger for a year, according to organizers.

The non-perishable ingredients, boxes, bags, and staff will be brought to Miami by Minnesota-based Christian hunger charity Feed My Starving Children, which donates the meals to schools, orphanages, and clinics in 70 countries worldwide.

The event host raises the funds to pay for the meals, which includes assistance from sponsors like Baptist Health South Florida and Cargill. Each meal costs 22 cents Cedeño added.

Events like these occur throughout the country, but Miami is a great location said Cedeño.

“Miami is important because we are a port city. Shipping the meals from here versus their headquarters in Minneapolis will save thousands of dollar and therefore be able to provide more meals for the needy children.”