Today I had the opportunity to witness a few firsts for me – a world record attempt at assembling, simultaneously, the most hunger relief packages in the world and my first Walmart Stores Inc. shareholders event. The attempt gathered 555 Walmart Stores Inc. associates, in town for their annual shareholders meeting (June 1), to put 15 items into bags in under three minutes. The record had never been attempted before, according to Mike Janela, Guinness World Records adjudicator, and was based solely on number of items made. Guinness World Records judges thus set a benchmark record of 500 packages to be made, containing at least 10 items, in under three minutes.

The associates had the energy, rhythm, and synchronized routine in order to crush the time limit, finishing 555 packages in one minute, 20 seconds. With a time like that, I wonder if next year they will make more than one bag per participant (considering they have plenty of time to make more) and crush the record for number of packages made. The packages made Thursday will be donated to and distributed by the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

It was a very cool event to cover and got me really excited to cover the annual shareholders meeting on Friday. I’ve heard many stories about the energy, passion, and fun chants the associates have, so to get a quick taste of it today was just what I needed not to be completely blown away tomorrow!

To purchase photos from this event, click here.