SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - Volunteers and employees at Midwest Mission spent the morning loading pallets of of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) to Disaster Relief in Turkey. 

The shipment of 36,000 MREs is the first of many the organization plans to send to Turkey in response to recent earthquakes.

"People just need food, they need shelter, they need water, they need those basic resources to sustain life," said Mallory Webster, Communications Manager for Midwest Mission. "And so we have these meals and they're going to create that hope for them to get through another day to not only just try to survive, but thrive in their life, even in the midst of the disaster."

The MREs came from Baja Bridges in California, who sent the meals to the Springfield Rotary Club Foundation in Illinois. The Rotary Club Foundation then reached out to Midwest Mission to see if they had a way to get the MREs into Turkey. 

Midwest Mission initially struggled to find a way to get products into the country, but say they were able to partner with another organization to send the shipment through Poland. 

"The supplies will go from here on a truck to St. Louis, and then from there it will go on a railroad all the way up to New York, and from there, it will go on a boat over to Poland," said Webster. "From there, they kind of split up the relief and distributed as they see needed best."

In addition to the MREs, the organization is preparing Dignity Kits to send to Turkey. These include items like towels, toothbrushes, razors, and other items. 

"We can make such a big impact from right here in the middle of the Midwest and in a tiny little town that we can be part of something that's much bigger and help people who, who really need it," said Webster. 

Midwest Mission is looking for donations of shampoo to complete their Dignity Kits. Shampoo bottles must be between 12-19 ounces. For more information, check out the Midwest Mission website.Â