Mennonite Weekly Review

AKRON, Pa. — Mennonite Central Committee’s mobile meat canning project, providing protein for people affected by war, disaster and malnutrition, is going on the road again.

From left, George Wieler Jr., Peter Reimer, Steven Bricker and Ryun Lawrence are this year’s MCC meat canning crew. — Photo by Brenda Burkholder/MCC

Thousands of volunteers in two Canadian provinces and 13 U.S. states prepare and package more than half a million cans of meat each year. Last season, 566,984 cans were filled with turkey, pork or beef and sent to 15 countries.

Canned meat provides a substantial protein source to people who are poor or on the brink of poverty. Ten to 15 people can be fed with the contents of one 28-ounce can.

Each year, a four-member meat canning crew travels to the various canning sites – 31 this year – overseeing operations from early morning until night. They set up the canner, a 42-foot long trailer, where the meat is cooked and prepared to sanitary standards. Volunteers provide the bulk of the labor on canning days.

Members of this year’s canning crew are Steven Bricker of Chambersburg, Pa.; Ryun Lawrence of Goessel, Kan.; Peter Reimer of Tolstoi, Man.; and George Wieler Jr., of Wheatley, Ont.

Canning crew members commit to two-year terms with MCC, spending seven months on the road, and maintaining the canner and doing other duties in the off-season.

Long before the canning crew arrives, local volunteers in the host communities raise funds to cover the cost of canning, which can approach $18,000 a day. Costs include federally-inspected raw meat as well as packaging, processing and material costs, such as cans, boxes and lids. Shipping and local on-site expenses are also covered by the host community.

Local volunteers clean the site, preparing it for the work, which typically lasts two to five days. When the canner is there, volunteers cut meat, put it in pots, stir it and wash cans. Then they label and box the filled cans.

Canning crew members find their way to MCC in a variety of ways. Wieler knew about the canning operation from attending MCC fundraisers while growing up in Ontario and long had interest in being a crew member someday. Lawrence, on the other hand, heard about the canner less than two weeks before he applied to be on the crew, and was soon invited to the assignment.

Their reasons for applying, however, were similar.