Over 120,000 people are struggling to avoid hunger everyday in the states of Iowa and Illinois. The goal of the River Bend Foodbank is to make sure that these communities become free of hunger.
Once again, Pleasant Valley High School is participating in the annual Student Hunger Drive. As a school, students will help collect and donate food products that will be given to the River Bend Foodbank.
The student council members are excited to start this year’s effort for the hunger drive. Ruth Davidson, a senior in student council, said her favorite part of the Student Hunger Drive this year was being able to help these people in need and visually seeing the impact that it has in the community.
Barb Pischke, a teacher involved with the student council described that she is looking forward to “seeing all the boxes stacked up in the hallway, and knowing that all the students worked hard to collect food for those in the community that need it.”
On Sept. 24 the hunger drive officially began. The student council put in a lot of planning for this year’s challenge. Last Friday, during the kick off assembly, the Dancing with the Studs competition acquired 225 pounds of food for the beginning of the hunger drive. It was announced that the reality TV show, Chopped, would be the theme of this years Student Hunger Drive.
Each class department is a different restaurant and teachers will face different challenges presented to them each week. If a teacher can not complete the requirements of these challenges they will be eliminated from the game. However, if a teacher is eliminated, they can create alliances with other teachers and help them out. The ultimate goal for the hunger drive this year is to surpass 60,000 pounds of food, which means students would have to collect more food than last year.
The challenges each week will include collecting different types of food. When bringing in food it is useful to know students can bring food that is close to the expiration date. The food for the hunger drive is considered non-expired one year after the packaging says that it is no longer good to eat.
Many people in our community are food insecure. Through the Pleasant Valley Student Hunger Drive, students are able to make an effort to help the River Bend Foodbank’s fight against hunger.
