Working at a frenetic pace, volunteers from across Suffolk and beyond gathered at Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Eclipse on Saturday to package meals for needy families overseas.

In the church’s Family Life Center, just before 10 a.m., about 150 volunteers worked the first shift, estimated Nancy Quell, an Ebenezer and Churchland Rotary Club member.

Quell co-coordinated the seventh annual event with Marshall Bolton, a Churchland Baptist Church member who’s also with Churchland Rotary.

Other organizations represented included the Suffolk, North Suffolk, Smithfield and Portsmouth Rotary clubs, including their Interact and Rotoract clubs.

As the volunteers worked along rows of tables, weighing bags of dehydrated vegetables, vitamins and rice, a gong sounded at frequent intervals, representing 1,000 meal packages made.

Each package feeds six people, Quell said, adding that a total of 350 volunteers across two shifts during Saturday’s Stop Hunger Now event were destined to turn out 53,000 of them.

“It’s a multi-generational event,” Quell said, as grandmothers worked alongside daughters and granddaughters. “We have jobs for everybody. We encourage (church) members to bring their families.”

Paul Williams is Stop Hunger Now’s program director. He said the organization works with over 65 countries, and that Hampton Roads is one of 19 regions across America — while there are four international locations, in South Africa, Italy, The Philippines and Malaysia — where volunteers gather to package meals.

“Every one of these meals is implemented into school feeding programs, orphanages, clinics, medical facilities, elder care centers and vocational schools,” Williams said.

Some packing events last three days and involve a million meal packages, he said, adding of the event in North Suffolk, “This is mid-sized.”

Stop Hunger Now also provides much more than just food, including medical and school supplies, ultrasound machines, wheelchairs and water purification kits. “Everything to improve the quality of life,” Williams said.

Since a Methodist pastor started the program in 1998, it has sent out over 190 million meal packages, Williams said.

Quell said folks enjoy the event. “They love to be here; they have fun, they meet and mingle with new people,” she said.

“They are always happy to spend their time here.”