Eighth grader Brooke Mulvihill was ready to make 10,000 meals as soon as she got up Friday morning.
Mulvihill was among about 70 middle schoolers, community members and district staff who flooded the middle school cafeteria to pack bags of oatmeal and macaroni and cheese.
Mulvihill said the program that helps with food insecurity shows there is always a place for you to help someone else, and it can just take an hour of the day.
“I hope it keeps happening for years to come because it’s my third year,” she said.
Now in its sixth year, what started as a few thousand meals at the program’s inception has become the school’s new record –- 10,000 meals packed in an hour. The program, Something to Eat, an offshoot organization through Youthfront, is a way to give students a tangible look into how their hard work can impact area families.
The program creates a collaborative spirit for the kids as they get to see their mission completed, said Shanda Hurla, executive director of the Eudora Schools Foundation.
“They want the opportunity to have hands-on productive things where they feel that they’re making a difference,” Hurla said. “All of us as human beings want to see being productive and contributing.”
Of those meals, some will stay in Eudora at the schools’ food pantries and the Eudora Food Pantry at the Methodist church. Some will go to Just Food in Lawrence and the rest will go to help people in Kansas City, Kansas.
Students crowded around tables to help measure ingredients into their bags with assembly-line-type organization. Each volunteer had a job, making the packing look seamlessly organized with middle schoolers at the helm.
Eighth grader Colby Hoover helped fill bags with oats before they were sealed and placed in the boxes.
Hoover said he liked participating because “helping others feels good and it’s just a fun thing to do.”
He also attended the foundation’s prior session to discuss food insecurity and how it affects individuals. He said the discussion was shocking and taught him a lot about the issue.
“It was surprising. I didn’t really know it was really like that,” he said.
Eighth grader Lillian Mueting said the event was a great way to get students involved and interacting with their classmates. She also said it’s a way to make a big difference just from her own school.
“You get to hang out with your friends and you get to make all these foods for these people that are hungry and in need and everything,” Mueting said. “I think it’s a great way to get people involved to help other people.”
Logan Cooper, also an eighth grader, agreed it was a good experience.
“It’s really fun. I love helping others,” Cooper said.
Amber Booth, a community programming director for Youthfront, said the packing gives students a way to interact with parents and families and serve together. She helped organize, set up and run the event.
“It makes an impact on local hunger in our communities, and it’s just great that some of the food was able to stay here in the community,” Booth said.
During the first two years of this middle school’s program, teams packed 3,000 meals, then moved to 5,000 for the next few years. This year, the middle school doubled that to provide as many as possible.
This is just one of dozens of enrichment programs at the middle school. There is a grill masters club, dance, sewing, fashion and everything in between.
The programs are funded by the Eudora Schools Foundation and started about seven years ago with the help of former board president Lindsey Hoover. At the beginning of each school year, those interested in creating an enrichment program can apply and receive a stipend from the foundation to help cover costs.
“School is kind of like – I picture it like a triangle. When you’re young, you try all these things, and then as you get older, you’ve narrowed it down by the time you graduate,” Hoover said.
It especially helps students in sixth grade get involved, since there aren’t as many activities for them. The hope is the clubs also cater to those who maybe aren’t participating in a sport, she said.
It also encourages them to communicate and problem solve.
“I think it just contributes to the community feeling that is here in the middle school,” Hoover said.
Enrichment programs are what make the Eudora Middle School especially unique, Hoover said. It shows how much the community supports its students, especially when so many residents come out to help with various clubs – many of whom don’t even work for the district.
The full schedule of enrichment programs can be found here.
Booth said this is the last time Youthfront will do smaller packing parties with individual schools, as it will transition to doing one big packing party instead.
Next year, the foundation will have to look at different ways to continue this type of program, Hurla said.
“This is the largest enrichment program that we’ve ever done, because we see students wanting to have more experiences and more opportunities outside the classroom,” Hurla said. “The one thing that the foundation is trying to figure out is we need to provide more stipends and more opportunities.”
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected]
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