By JULIE ALPAUGH – Broadcast Staff
By KEVIN MOBLEY – Web Writer
Members of the Clarke Central High School Interact Club, French club and National Honor Society teamed up to host a Stop Hunger Now event.
On April 12, the Clarke Central High School Interact Club, assisted by the French Club and National Honor Society, hosted Stop Hunger Now, a food packaging event.
“(Stop Hunger Now) is a pretty amazing program,” Interact Club sponsor Ashley Goodrich said. “(Interact Club) raised $2,500, so that means we will be packaging 10,000 meals. Also, French Club helped raise money, and so did (National Honors Society). They’re all coming together.”
Stop Hunger Now is a nonprofit hunger relief agency that facilitates packaging events across the United States. The agency distributes meals to a portion of the near one billion people in the world suffering from hunger.
“We have partners worldwide that help us get the meals to where they need to go, mainly school feeding programs, orphanages, pregnancy centers and elderly care, because those people will impact the community more,” Stop Hunger Now assistant program manager Ryan Sanders said.
The idea to host an event like this originated two years ago from Interact Club members. The group researched options, and decided to pursue Stop Hunger Now.
“We thought that would be a great way to actually see the food that those people will be getting and be a part of not just getting the money, but actually packaging the food,” Goodrich said. “That’s really how we got involved with Stop Hunger Now.”
It took Interact Club two years to raise the required $2,500 in order to bring Stop Hunger Now to CCHS. The money was needed in order to fund the meals, supplies and distribution costs, and was raised in a multitude of ways.
“We had to raise a certain amount of money to be able to do the packing event, so last year we had the lollipop fund, we volunteered for the Ath-Half and handed water to people and just a lost of different things to raise money,” Interact Club president Flynne Collins said.
A single meal package consists of dehydrated vegetables, a soy protein mix, rice and a flavoring pack that includes 21 vitamins and minerals. One pack costs 25 cents and can feed up to six people. Volunteers form assembly lines to prepare these kits, seal them and load boxes of 36 packages each.
Students and citizens alike joined forces to help make the visions of Interact Club a reality. One such student, sophomore Ruth Figueroa, volunteered because she felt called to make a difference in the lives of others.
“Sometimes we don’t value the little things we have, so I thought it was very important for me to come and help out,” Figueroa said.
The event lasted until 10,000 meals were collected and stored. The meals will be taken back to the distribution center in Atlanta, where they will likely wait no later than a month before being sent out to over 60 countries in need.
“I hope more students will get involved and start addressing the issue of hunger in our community, get involved in other service organizations and look at what’s happening here at this school in terms of hunger,” Goodrich said.
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