March 12, 2018 at 5:31 p.m.
Fasting to feed
Students will forgo food Friday as part of their fundraising effort
Fasting to feed
On April 7, Jay County High School students will be leading an effort to make more than 100,000 meals for starving children.
This week, they’ll give themselves just a glimpse of what it’s like to be hungry.
As part of their fundraising effort, nine members of the school’s Feed My Starving Children committee will be accepting pledges to support their fast on Friday.
The idea came from JCHS theatre, fine arts and speech teacher Carol Gebert.
“It’s just kind of trying to raise awareness because some people might not know what it’s like,” said Aylin Montes, who is joined on the committee by fellow National Honor Society members Hanna Ault, Julia McClung, Breea Liette, Holton Hill, Hannah Link, Amanda Ferguson, Noah Hummel and Lucy Laux. “We’re just going one day without food. And these kids basically go basically their lifetime without eating. We’re just trying to get it into people’s minds what we’re doing.”
The idea is that each of the students will take the money they normally would have spent on food Friday and instead donate it. And in addition to accepting pledges for their fast, they’re also inviting anyone in the community to join them in their fast.
This week, they’ll give themselves just a glimpse of what it’s like to be hungry.
As part of their fundraising effort, nine members of the school’s Feed My Starving Children committee will be accepting pledges to support their fast on Friday.
The idea came from JCHS theatre, fine arts and speech teacher Carol Gebert.
“It’s just kind of trying to raise awareness because some people might not know what it’s like,” said Aylin Montes, who is joined on the committee by fellow National Honor Society members Hanna Ault, Julia McClung, Breea Liette, Holton Hill, Hannah Link, Amanda Ferguson, Noah Hummel and Lucy Laux. “We’re just going one day without food. And these kids basically go basically their lifetime without eating. We’re just trying to get it into people’s minds what we’re doing.”
The idea is that each of the students will take the money they normally would have spent on food Friday and instead donate it. And in addition to accepting pledges for their fast, they’re also inviting anyone in the community to join them in their fast.
Though the fast is part of the fundraising effort for the MobilePack, the group is already in good shape financially. It surpassed the $25,000 necessary to pack 100,000 meals on March 1 — the milestone was hit when a $3,800 check from The Rock Church was delivered while last year’s committee was at the Jay County Community Awards ceremony and received the Citizen of the Year award — and now is up to about $29,000. (Any extra funds would be held over to give next year’s committee a head start.)
The funds came not only from local churches and organizations making contributions, but from a variety of fundraisers including a “Fun for Food” night in the fall, a Christmas carnival, a Pancake dinner and selling spirit items at a football game. The group also sold about 200 Feed My Starving Children T-shirts and 125 handmade bracelets.
The students have been stunned by the ability to raise such a large sum two years in a row.
“It’s kind of amazing,” said Ferguson. “I never would have imagined. Last year even, raising $25,000 in Jay County, it just seems crazy to me. So I just think it’s really awesome.”
Registration to volunteer for a two-hour time slot during the MobilePack is underway — sign up online at bit.ly/JCFMSC2018 — and more than 60 percent have already been claimed. There are only 12 slots still available for the 9 to 11 a.m. session, with 118 for the noon to 2 p.m. session and 95 for the 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. session.
The event is open to volunteers age 5 and older, with jobs from scooping soy protein to affixing labels to carrying boxes.
“It’s just a lot of fun, I think, to help all those kids,” said McClung. “And the way they have it set up, everyone’s working together. You can talk to people while you’re doing it. You can just have a great time. And they have jobs for everyone.”
“I think more than anything else, it’s a blessing for everybody involved,” added Krieg. “It’s a blessing for the kiddos who are receiving the food. It’s a blessing for the kids who get to participate in really executing this whole project. And then I think ultimately it becomes a blessing to our whole community.”
The funds came not only from local churches and organizations making contributions, but from a variety of fundraisers including a “Fun for Food” night in the fall, a Christmas carnival, a Pancake dinner and selling spirit items at a football game. The group also sold about 200 Feed My Starving Children T-shirts and 125 handmade bracelets.
The students have been stunned by the ability to raise such a large sum two years in a row.
“It’s kind of amazing,” said Ferguson. “I never would have imagined. Last year even, raising $25,000 in Jay County, it just seems crazy to me. So I just think it’s really awesome.”
Registration to volunteer for a two-hour time slot during the MobilePack is underway — sign up online at bit.ly/JCFMSC2018 — and more than 60 percent have already been claimed. There are only 12 slots still available for the 9 to 11 a.m. session, with 118 for the noon to 2 p.m. session and 95 for the 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. session.
The event is open to volunteers age 5 and older, with jobs from scooping soy protein to affixing labels to carrying boxes.
“It’s just a lot of fun, I think, to help all those kids,” said McClung. “And the way they have it set up, everyone’s working together. You can talk to people while you’re doing it. You can just have a great time. And they have jobs for everyone.”
“I think more than anything else, it’s a blessing for everybody involved,” added Krieg. “It’s a blessing for the kiddos who are receiving the food. It’s a blessing for the kids who get to participate in really executing this whole project. And then I think ultimately it becomes a blessing to our whole community.”
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