F.A.M.E. fights hunger during the holidays
Photo by photo used with permission of Troy Mundschenk
The NHS Orange Team gathered canned goods during Halloween for the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry. They are now teaming up with F.A.M.E. classes to collect additional food leading up to Thanksgiving.
While most people see Thanksgiving as a time for huge servings and home-cooked meals, many Lake Zurich families under tight budgets would have gone without these luxuries this November: until the freshmen class began working to halt the holiday hunger.
From Tuesday November 8 until Thursday November 17, all F.A.M.E. classes are competing to bring in the most canned goods for donation to St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at St. Francis de Sales church. Though the collection has only taken place for a few days, Andrew Pytlak, junior F.A.M.E. leader, knows his class is off to a roaring start.
“We’re doing really well,” Pytlak said. “I don’t know how the other classes are doing, but I know that we have a ton of cans, which is great.”
The idea to collect cans for the food pantry originated from Troy Mundschenk’s National Honor Society project where members trick-or-treated on Halloween for cans. Mundschenk then reached out to the F.A.M.E. classes who are bringing in extra help for those in need. The collection also is a competition between F.A.M.E classes to see which class can collect the most weight in food per student.
“I have two F.A.M.E. classes during fifth period, and the food donated by my classes will be combined. The donations will be weighed, and then the weight will be divided by the number of freshman per classes. The class that averages the most weight per person will get a pizza party as their reward,” Angela Gaggiano, senior F.A.M.E. leader, said.
Though the pizza party is a great reward for students, Gaggiano points out that the food drive also gives a real-life example of many of the lessons taught in F.A.M.E. and allows freshmen to apply what they have learned.
“We talk a lot about social emotional learning, and a big part of that is social awareness,” Gaggiano said. “The food drive gives the freshman a chance to practice their social awareness by realizing not everyone is as fortunate as most of us at Lake Zurich, and even doing something small like bringing cans into class can really make a huge difference in the life of someone less fortunate.”
Students outside F.A.M.E classes are also welcome to donate canned goods to the boxes inside their core classes.
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