Mennonite
Central
Committee

Canners hit the road for 2006-07 season

Marla Pierson Lester
Sept. 29, 2006

MCC's four-person canning crew hits the road again in early October for an annual meat canning effort that spans thousands of miles, involves some 19,000 volunteers and produces more than half a million cans of meat for people in need.

In a tradition that dates to 1946, the mobile meat canner will visit 13 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between now and the end of April.

Last year's season yielded a record 566,322 cans of meat, which MCC ships to families in need across the world. A much-valued source of protein in communities impacted by war, disaster and poverty, a single can may be used to feed 10 to 15 people. This year, 96,000 cans prepared by canning volunteers have been shipped to Burundi, where families receive meat in exchange for work planting trees.

Each can is the result of multiple volunteers, stressed John Hillegass, who has served on the canning crew since 2004.

"It's just amazing to see how many aspects there are," Hillegass said.

Months before the canner comes, local communities begin raising funds to cover the costs of canning, which can run as much as $13,000 U.S., or $14,535 Cdn., a day. Volunteers donate and prepare meat for canning and provide the bulk of the labor on canning days. The four-person crew works in shifts, overseeing canning operations from early morning sometimes until late at night.

It is an effort made possible by prayers and faith as much as labor, canners believe. Last year's crew members found themselves repeating a theme so often they had it emblazoned on a sign.

"Don't praise us. Praise the Lord," proclaim black letters on a white background in the mobile canner.

"People would come up to the canner and say, 'Wow, you work so hard,'" Hillegass said. "But so many people work hard to make meat canning successful." And there were so many moments of blessing and times when the crew saw God's faithfulness, he said. "You can almost see His hands around the canner. It's not us. It's what He empowers us to do," Hillegass said.

As this year's team departs, they take with them the experience of seeing MCC meat distributed in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in August.

"As we shared with people in Honduras about MCC and our canning experience, their faces lit up and they shared with us their gratitude," said canning coordinator Tim Friesen.

Crew member David Yoder was struck by the differences between what families in the United States have and what the families they encountered in Honduras must face. In the United States, he said, "you take a lot of things for granted. You have everything you want here, but on your bad days, you don't think you do."

David Martens, another crew member, said he was inspired by churches' work to bring Christ's hope and joy into their communities. At a service in Tegucigalpa, he said, scores of people went to the altar after an evangelistic service. "It brought me to tears, just to see all these people go forward to give their lives to Christ," he said.

Members of this year's canning crew are John Hillegass, of Jerome, Pa.; David Yoder, of Chouteau, Oklahoma; David Martens, of Winkler, Man.; and Eric Thomas, of East Petersburg, Pennsylvania.

Each year, MCC seeks people to serve on the mobile meat canner. Canning crew members serve two-year terms, spending seven months on the road with the canner and working in Akron, Pennsylvania, the other five months of the year.

 

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Marla Pierson Lester is a writer for MCC.