Truly ridiculous: Rice round up hopes to collect 5.2 million grains
It's way too much for one person to eat, but one local church is looking to collect 5.2 million grains of rice.
Faith Baptist Church's Donut Kids Club in New Maryland is holding their aptly named "Ridiculous Rice Roundup," and they are serious about the number.
Luckily for them they won't have to count each grain individually.
"We know that a grain of rice weighs 0.029 grams, so we just count the grams," said Larry Matthews, the pastor of the church.
The church will donate the mounds of rice to local soup kitchens and food banks and the popularity of rice makes it a perfect food to collect
"I think most people like rice and it's really very affordable and we can have a lot of fun with it between now and the time that it ends up at the food banks," said Matthews.
Playing with your food
Apparently the folks at the church never learned one lesson from their parents, don't play with your food.
The group will "make" a large "rice pudding" by putting all the rice in a kid sized swimming pool.
Don't worry, they won't be taking it out of the package or swimming around in it.
"Every year before we give the food away we try and have a little bit of fun with it," said Matthews.
The round up has been going on for 12 years and has collected such staples as pudding, beans, Kraft Dinner and toilet paper.
And if past years are any indication there will be plenty of rice to go around.
"I was down at the kitchen half way through the year last year...they still had some of the beans we took them the year before," said Matthews.
"It does them quite a while."
The Ridiculous Rice Roundup ends Tuesday night and so far the group estimates they have 4 million grains.
