Champaign County volunteers are being asked to help pack more than 1 million meals to send to impoverished residents of earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

In what's billed as the largest relief effort of its kind outside a major city, the Salvation Army of Champaign County is working with two other faith-based agencies on a two-day volunteer effort in late April.

They're looking for 8,000 volunteers who will try to package and ship 1.3 million meals to Haiti on April 24-25 at the former Hobby Lobby store at 1916 Glenn Park Drive, C, next to the County Market.

The Salvation Army is working with Numana, a nonprofit organization that produces dry nonperishable meals for distribution to starving people worldwide, said Kris Fuqua, Salvation Army Corps administrator in Champaign County. The agency has worked with the Salvation Army's World Service Organization for some time, she said.

The University of Illinois InterFaith in Action is also a partner in the effort. A student volunteer attended a similar Salvation Army-Numana partnership in Elgin and decided to bring it to Champaign-Urbana, Kris Fuqua said. Some larger cities undertook the million-meal challenge as well.

"If they can do a million, Champaign-Urbana can do a million. The folks in Haiti are in tremendous need," said Salvation Army Corps Administrator Mike Fuqua.

Kris Fuqua said the event gives residents who want to help Haiti a chance to "make a difference in a truly hands-on fashion."

Organizers hope to recruit churches, schools, youth groups, service clubs and chambers of commerce for the effort.

Volunteers will package meals of rice, dried vegetables and soy protein fortified with 21 vitamins and minerals into containers large enough to feed six and prepare the packages for shipment to Haiti.

There, the food will be distributed by Salvation Army workers under the care of American military personnel, organizers said.

Volunteers of any age will be asked to work two-hour shifts on that Saturday or Sunday. Registration is required.

Visit the Champaign Salvation Army Web site or call 217-398-0428 to register for a shift.