Nearly 50 volunteers gathered at the new Lehighton Kia during the company’s grand opening to package meals for hungry children.

Over several hours, they packaged more than 10,000 meals for Rise Against Hunger, a hunger-relief organization that coordinates the packaging and distribution of food and aid to people in developing countries.

“There are a lot of people who don’t get to eat every day,” said Latoya Gillyard, a community engagement manager with Rise Against Hunger. “In our organization, meals represent life.”

She noted that most meals will go to families with children in transitional education. These families are encouraged to send their children to school to receive the meals, allowing the children to receive an education and hopefully use that education to earn a living to support their family.

Each food packet contains long-grain rice, dried vegetables, soy and a nutrient packet containing 27 vitamins and minerals donated by The Kraft Heinz Company. One packet provides six servings.

While many of the volunteers were employees of Lehighton Kia or family members, there were also volunteers without ties to the dealership who were drawn to the cause.

Carlos Roedan, the general manager of Lehighton Kia, said that the company became involved with Rise Against Hunger after seeing a video describing how children around the world are not learning to their full capacity because of hunger. Without regular meals, these children are often unable to retain what they’ve learned in the classroom — or even attend classes at all.

“We wanted to put out our little grain of salt to break the cycle and help the kids learn. These children could be our future leaders of the world,” he said. “We’re all parents. It was an easy choice.”