Much has been made, here and abroad, of one angry American's on-again, off-again plans to burn Qurans on Saturday. As usual, the national news media painted an unflattering, inaccurate caricature of a spite-filled America.

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The real story on Saturday will be about love -- and the bottomless generosity and kindness of this country, as expressed by hundreds at Augusta State University's Christenberry Fieldhouse.

There, from 9 a.m. to noon, more than 300 volunteers from ages 5 to over 70 and from all over the Central Savannah River Area will come together to pack 80,000 meals for the people of Haiti, and to stuff our own local foodbank with foodstuffs.

It won't make headlines out of town. But that's the real story. That's the real America.

The "Stop Hunger Now" event, coordinated and led by area Rotary civic clubs, was planned far in advance of the cataclysmic earthquake that rocked Haiti's capital region to its core last Jan. 12; it's actually been several years in the planning. But what a beautiful coincidence. And what a great opportunity to help.

Each bag of rice, soy, dried vegetables and a vitamin, once prepared in Haiti, will feed up to six people.

Meanwhile, volunteers and all those from the community who want to are invited to bring nonperishable food items to help replenish this area's foodbank, Golden Harvest, which will have a truck at Christenberry Fieldhouse (on Wrightsboro Road). Much of the local aid will go to filling the backpacks of underprivileged schoolchildren.

A book-burning may have made for great theater and catchy video for the evening news. But such things -- in this country, anyway -- only attract a few tortured souls. In contrast, massive humanitarian efforts, even between catastrophes, are boundless in America and attract hordes more people.

Saturday's mobilization -- in conjunction with the Stop Hunger Now organization in North Carolina -- will see soldiers from Fort Gordon, athletes from ASU and families from Aiken to Thomson to Lincolnton.

Oh, and more than $21,000 in contributions also have been raised in the effort to end hunger, especially among children, here and abroad.

Our thanks and congratulations go out to Pam Lightsey and all the other Rotarians who have worked so hard to bring this event to Augusta. It's not just about feeding others, though that would be quite enough. It's also a character-building endeavor for young and old.

If you want to be a part of something this big and uplifting, there's still time. Contact Lightsey at plightsey@aug.edu or (706) 840-2087.

You'll be amazed and heartened.

And you'll see the real America.