By Scott D. Johnston

For The Daily World

Green Lantern Lunches, a volunteer program that feeds hundreds of needy North Coast children, is looking for volunteers to help meet the goal of 20,000 meals provided by the end of this summer.

Phyllis Shaughnessy, the Copalis Beach great-grandmother who founded the program in 2015, said she currently has 12 volunteers working out of her garage, which she converted into an assembly station and mini-warehouse last year.

It’s a lean crew that takes on a big task Monday through Friday while kids are on summer vacation: Some prepare and pack several hundred lunches, and others run four delivery routes that cover a mostly rural area from north of Moclips, south to Ocean Shores and east past Copalis Crossing.

“We hope we’ll be getting enough new volunteers that we can alternate packers and drivers,” she said.

The delivery routes take about two hours each, and the prep and pack operation usually runs about two and a half hours a day.

Shaughnessy said her group is happy to receive help for whatever lengths of time people are available. She also noted that cash donations have made it possible to offer drivers reimbursement for gas “for those who would like.”

She said volunteers are the backbone of the effort, but its success also comes from its simple purpose: “Let’s go feed some kids.”

Anyone interested in the program can contact Shaughnessy at 360-289-2971 or tcels@coastaccess.com. The program also has a website (www.greenlanternlunches.org), a Facebook page and a GoFundMe account (www.gofundme.com/rurallunchprogram/donate).