Generous Students Take Top Award For Seasonal Food Drive
The Spring Harvest Healthy Food Drive Challenge is a seasonal push to help combat this slow donation season, and in its second year, almost 6,000 pounds of food was collected.
Hays County, TX – Food drives tend to be less plentiful in the spring and summer months, and yet hunger exists all year long. In 2016, community food donations from April to August (5 months) were nearly equivalent to what Hays County Food Bank received in November and December alone.
The Spring Harvest Healthy Food Drive Challenge is a seasonal push to help combat this slow donation season, and in its second year, almost 6,000 pounds of food was collected.
Hays County Food Bank is very proud to announce that this year’s winner of the challenge, is Wallace Middle School of Kyle, who brought in 1,999 pounds of food.
Dee Niedzielski and the Youth Service Club organized a fun approach to the drive and designated a different type of food to collect each week, with ‘Oodles of Noodles’ being the most popular week.
122 students and 26 staff members chose to participate, with 63 students earning the 2017 Excellence in Community Service Award for bringing in at least ten food items. Wyatt Frachione, an extra ambitious student, brought in ten food items each week!
In second place, bringing in 1,968 pounds, is the Kyle Lion’s Club, Kyle Fire Department, and Living Word Lutheran Church.
In early May, these groups collaborated to ‘Fill Up the Fire Truck’ outside of the Walmart Supercenter in Kyle. While some people arrived ready with their donations, others purchased food from Walmart that specifically went to help feed their food insecure neighbors.
The San Marcos Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (SMUUF) really took on the Spring Harvest part of the challenge with 2/3 of their 305 pounds consisting of fresh produce.
Jeannie Lewis, SMUUF Social Justice Chair, said, “Our church members, including our children, were grateful to participate in the Spring Harvest Challenge to help provide healthy, fresh food to those in our community who are food insecure.” She added further, “We have also helped the food bank for several years by supporting the food bank garden plots year round at Alamo Community Gardens. SMUUF will continue to partner with Hays County Food Bank in their vital work.”
If you would like to host a food drive for the food bank, please visit https://www.haysfoodbank.org/. The only way to end hunger in our community is if we all work together.
In 2016, Hays County Food Bank and its 20+ partner agencies distributed 679,456 pounds of food to an average of 8,500 food insecure residents each month. These residents were senior citizens, children, and many others facing economic challenges. “Food insecurity” refers to the availability of food and one’s access to it. Hays County Food Bank is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit haysfoodbank.org or visit us on Facebook or Twitter at @HaysFoodBank.
