Photo By Staff Sgt. Joseph Thompson | Kansas Army National Guard Soldiers from the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 137th...... read more read more
The Kansas National Guard and Hutton Construction are rising to the challenge that Kansans face during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the guidance of Rick McNary, vice president of strategic partnerships at the Outreach Program, an Iowa based non-profit, the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 137th Infantry Regiment, Kansas Army National Guard; and Hutton Construction employees in McPherson, Kansas, are packing and distributing hunger relief boxes to the Wichita Food Bank.
1st Lt. William Burwell, 2-137th CAB, is overseeing the operation at the Kansas Army National Guard South Armory in Wichita.
“The Outreach Program is the not-for-profit that is actually heading this up,” said Burwell. “Rick McNary came in and briefed our guys about what they did and how they started. They create hunger relief boxes.”
Hutton Construction received bulk shipments of 250,000 meals from the Outreach Program that are being packaged into individual sandwich-sized bags. The bags are then loaded into four-foot cardboard boxes on pallets before they are delivered to the South Wichita Armory to be placed in hunger relief boxes by Soldiers assigned to the 2-137th CAB.
A significant hurdle that had to be overcome was following CDC and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s social distancing requirements.
“Normally you would have 50 to 100 plus people all crammed around 8 foot-long tables packing meals,” said Luke Amend, Hutton Construction McPherson Office team leader. “Unfortunately, it fell apart right when food banks needed the food the worst. So when we were put together, we created a new model or a new way to do the same thing, but do it in an assembly line fashion so that we were all separate.”
The Soldiers are using a similar method to what was pioneered by Hutton Construction in the operation.
“We're using our sustainment training to be operational in a civilian setting,” said Burwell. “No matter what our [Military Occupational Specialty], we're all trained in sustainment. We basically set up a service station tailgate resupply method of putting these boxes together. We’re palletizing and distributing the same way we would on the front lines.”
“Even though the Outreach Program is Iowa based, it's all a Kansas thing,” said Burwell. This is a Kansans helping Kansans thing.”
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 05.05.2020 09:57 |
| Story ID: | 369218 |
| Location: | WICHITA, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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