Food drives slated for December, residents encouraged to donate

According to Feeding America, a national organization dedicated to mitigating starvation, 41 million people struggled with hunger in the United States last year.

Of those 41 million, 13 million were children.

In response to this statistic, the Lind-Ritzville National Honor Society (NHS) will be holding a food drive on Monday, Dec. 4, through Friday, Dec. 15. Similarly, Ritzville Grade School will be holding their food drive on Monday, Dec 4, through Friday, Dec. 8.

Community members are also invited to donate non-perishable food items to either the high school office or the grade school office. All contributions will be donated to the Ritzville Food Pantry.

LRHS is using competition between grades to encourage participation. Each donation will receive a corresponding point value based on its food group. Items from the protein food group (like peanut butter or canned tuna) are often in scarce at food banks, and will receive three points. Donations of fruits or vegetables will receive two points, while grains and all other donations will receive one point.

The class whose donations accumulate the most points will be announced as winners.

Of the purpose of dividing up donations by grade, NHS Adviser Jason Aldrich explained, “Friendly competition is a strategy to increase student engagement… At least that’s what they tell the teachers!”

However, to truly reflect on the purpose of the food drive is to reflect on the meaning of service. Each NHS member has a slightly different interpretation of what it means to serve, though they all agree on its importance.

Sharon Anderson reflected, “Service is offering whatever help you can to a worthy cause.”

She continued, “It is important to give back to the community because I believe we have a responsibility to take care of where we live. This includes people in the community and the needs they may have.”

“Service to me means doing something for somebody else without feeling the benefits,” believed Morgan Lane, adding, “It’s important to give back to the community because they are the people who support us in everything we do as students.”

Rachel Schell also feels a need to better to the community: “The community is what has helped me grow into the young adult that I am. I feel that the least that I can do is give back.”

Other service projects that will benefit the community this month will include a blood drive on Tuesday, Dec. 12, and the annual Food for Furry Friends Drive on Saturday, Dec. 16.

In hopes of bolstering support for either the upcoming food drives, several students present a call to action for community members and students alike.

Lane said, “[Ritzville Food Pantry] is a good cause that does everything they can to make Ritzville a better place, and donating to them can change how Ritzville works as a community.”

“We need to come together and work together to help the greater need,” Schell added. “Don’t do it for yourself, do it for the others.”

Encouraging as many donations as possible, Anderson concluded, “Put yourself in a hungry man’s shoes and donate according to how you’d want to be treated.”

All community members are encouraged to join students in their efforts against local hunger by bringing donations to the LRHS office from Dec. 4–15, or to the RGS office from Dec. 4–8.