TAMPA, Fla. — Third- and fourth-grade students at St. John’s Episcopal Parish Day School spent several hours on Tuesday packing 12,500 meals that will feed 347 children in Haiti each for an entire school year.
The Florida-based organization, Rise Against Hunger, provides everything needed for impact events like this. All one has to do is get a team together and pay for the food. Each packet costs 41 cents.
Inside the school’s parish hall, a gong rings out. It marks the 1,000th meal already packed by the students.
“We’re making food for people who don’t have it, and we all have a part to play,” Grace said.
She and her 3rd-grade classmates are working together for something bigger. Their small hands work in unison to make sure each bag has the exact ingredients required.
“I open the bag and put one of these in here,” Analise said.
She put a sealed vitamin packet into a small clear plastic bag. The funnel captain then called for others to add dehydrated vegetables, soy protein and rice.
“Students are collaborating together, and they’re really getting their hands on in this project, so I hope that they take away having fun but also the meaning of putting in time and effort to something that is greater than them,” said Michael Salzer, the director of the lower division.
The students weigh each meal pack adding rice as needed. The plastic is then sealed, the bag labeled and added to a box. The students know that another child, maybe another 3rd grader, could be the one to open it in Haiti.
“It would be hard. It would be hard to concentrate because you’re so hungry,” Weatherly said.
Weatherly says the boxes they send will help nourish other kids.
“It’s going to feed a whole kid for one entire [school] year,” she added.
Each box contains 36 meal packs.
“I think just the size and quantity. Knowing that such a small pack feeds a family will be really eye-opening,” Alexa Koulouris-Parker said.
Parker is a mother of two students and helped facilitate bringing the service project to the school. The organization she runs in memory of her daughter, Taylor, also paid for the food these children are packing.
As the gong rang out for the 4th or 5th time, the students cheered. It marks another moment that opens their eyes to the impact of their community.
“[I’m] proud! To get the opportunity to feed other kids who need it,” Rocco said.
“It makes me feel happy to know I can do good things just like this,” Weatherly added.
To learn more about the Taylor Koulouris Foundation, its efforts and how you can provide support, visit www.taykfoundation.org.