Members of the 11-time national champion Augsburg College wrestling team packaged 27,000 meals in one hour while volunteering at the Feed My Starving Children charity location in Coon Rapids, Minn., recently.

Forty-three wrestlers, coaches and managers from the Augsburg wrestling program, along with 40 other volunteers, participated in the meal-packing session. According to the Feed My Starving Children website: "Feed My Starving Children is a non-profit Christian organization committed to feeding God's starving children hungry in body and spirit. The approach is simple: children and adults hand-pack meals formulated specially for starving children, and we ship the meals to nearly 70 countries around the world." Feed My Starving Children has three locations in the Twin Cities, two locations in Illinois and another in Arizona.

Augsburg head coach Mark Matzek said that the Auggie wrestlers packed 125 boxes, each holding 216 meals, during the hour-long session -- 27,000 meals, enough to feed 74 people for a full year.

"This experience for our wrestlers, coaches, and managers was priceless," Matzek said. "The collaboration of 80 people to measure, package, and box food that will serve 27,000 meals in one hour is truly staggering. Our team was able to come together off the mat and work with one another, as well as other volunteers, to serve populations who are stricken by extreme poverty in the name of the Lord. I was proud of the team for the way they carried themselves and how hard they worked. But one moment sticks out in my memory -- and that moment is when the group leader at FMSC announced the quantity of meals (27,000) that we had produced and I could see a great sense of accomplishment and fulfillment in each team members face. The buttons of my shirt felt like they were going to burst off I was so proud of these young men and women. This experience will truly be a highlight of this year, and I look forward to doing it again."

Some comments collected by Matzek from the Auggie wrestlers:
"I am going to come back and do this again."
"I have never done something like that before."
"It was fun helping out. It was also fun to compete with one another as we tried to out-package our other teammates, with the end result being 27,000 meals."
"It was exciting to see everyone on the team competing with one another for a good cause."

Augsburg's 11-time NCAA Division III national champion wrestling team opens defense of its latest national title on Oct. 30 with the team's open practice at Si Melby Hall. The competitive season begins on Nov. 20 with the Auggie-Brute-Adidas Open at Si Melby Hall.