Fighting hunger
Government classes volunteer at the food bank
Photo courtesy of Kristen Larson
Seniors Carly Finch, Charlotte Kittle, Bella Delgadillo and Brenna Matthews package food for the Backpack Program. Eight hundred fifty kids were able to have food over the weekend, thanks to the students’ generosity. “I learned how to be fast and efficient and make the best of the time we had there,” Delgadillo said. “I felt good we made over 800 packages of food, so it was good to know we could give so many people food and help them.”
December 20, 2021
As a way to give back to the community, social studies teacher Kristen Larson took three U.S. Government and Economics classes to the Food Bank for the Heartland to volunteer.
Millard Public Schools requires all high school students to have 10 hours of community service to graduate. Larson decided to take her classes to volunteer together to ensure the requirement was fulfilled.
“I learned how much fun it is to see kids outside of the classroom,” Larson said. “They talk to each other, help each other and enjoy each other. It was a great way to get to really know their personalities. I hope that they learned how easy the process is to volunteer and help others in Omaha. I hope that they learned that even through very little effort they can make a difference in another person’s life. Most importantly, I hope they do it again.”
During the school day, Larson’s classes went to the Food Bank of the Heartland and had many responsibilities, all of which helped make a difference for kids and families. Two of her classes helped pack food for a family of four that lasts a week, while one class helped with the Backpack Program, which includes two full meals for kids to eat on the weekend while they are not at school.
“I had two main responsibilities while I was volunteering,” senior Piper Meyer said. “The first responsibility I had was to place cans of applesauce in boxes. Then, I placed stickers on boxes. One sticker said where the food was donated from and another sticker allowed the food to be distributed. I had a lot of fun doing this and it felt really good to make a difference.”
The students learned a lot about the real problem of hunger in our community during the experience. Overall, the students collected enough food to feed 4,400 individuals for a week. They also filled 850 backpacks full of food so that 850 kids had food to eat over the weekend.
“I learned that it doesn’t take a lot of work to make a big difference in kids’ lives,” senior Tye Finnigsmier said. “It’s easy to volunteer for a couple of hours to make a big difference. It was very heartwarming to know that I was helping with the hunger problem in our community.”
The students made a difference in the Omaha community and a fulfilling experience was had by all involved. Larson plans to take classes back in the future.
