Since the Hunger Drive season is over, many people wonder what Spartan Assembly is up to next. For the next few months, Spartan Assembly along with other student councils across Iowa are getting involved in this year’s state project: Plant the Seed to Feed.
Every year, The Iowa Association Of Student Councils (IASC) chooses an organization that several student councils around Iowa fundraise for in order to better each council’s community and achieve the state’s overall goal. Spartan Assembly has participated in the state project for several years now and supported causes including Colleen’s Dream Foundation and The Native Fund.
The goal of Plant the Seed to Feed is to increase awareness about food insecurity in the state of Iowa. IASC is encouraging councils across the state to plan hunger-related events, do collection drives, and work towards educating their communities.
The quantitative goals for this year’s project include raising $20,000, collecting 200,000 lbs of food and accumulating 15,000 volunteering hours for food banks and other hunger related organizations across the state. Because Pleasant Valley just participated in the Student Hunger Drive, Spartan Assembly wants to focus more on holding volunteer opportunities and fundraisers instead of a food drive.
To fundraise money and accumulate service hours, Spartan Assembly is hosting multiple events in the next few months. On Sat., Spartan Assembly held Childcare night. The night gave parents in the district the opportunity to run errands for the holiday season while SA members held a fun night for their kids.
Co-chair of the event Callie Morton was excited to see the number of children that showed up. “It was such a fun and engaging way to fundraise and help our community. Many kids asked when they could come back and play again,” Morton said.
Spartan Assembly will also be selling candy canes during lunch this week to support the state project. Students will be able to buy the candy grams for their friends and teachers in time for the holiday season.
To contribute volunteering hours, Spartan Assembly will be helping at many non-profit organizations dealing with food insecurity in the Quad Cities. SA members plan to get other students from school to get involved with the project through the volunteering opportunities.
Spartan Assembly member, Muskan Basnet, hopes to find a way to allow students at school to earn service learning hours through the volunteering opportunities. “We are currently in the process of talking to Mrs. Jepsen about allowing other students to get their hours by helping Spartan Assembly fill backpacks and attend mobile food pantries hosted by The Riverbend Food Bank,” Basnet stated. She added, “It would be a great way for other students to get involved, and we would accumulate more service hours.”
After break, Spartan Assembly plans to hold a Karaoke Night, a Newlywed Game Night, a Quidditch game and sell flowers for Valentine’s Day.
