The World Health Research class is hosting a food drive, “Rise Against Hunger”, with a packing event on April 30, and the class is looking for donations and promotion from the school and community. Brian Hartzler, World Health Research teacher, describes the details and necessity of fundraising for the drive
“[Rise Against Hunger] brings the food supplies, and it’s volunteer-based in the fact that we have to pack all the meals, put the rice and the nutrients in the boxes, then we seal it,” Hartzler said. “They send it all over the world in 73 different countries.”
The class is partnering with an organization called Rise Against Hunger, which provides hunger relief for millions of people per year. The organization provides the school with supplies based on the amount of money raised and volunteers pack and ship out the food.
“So right now, we don’t know how many volunteers we need. But if we get to our 100,000 meal goal, if we raise enough money—which is $35,000,” Hartzler said. “If we get to that goal, then we’ll need about 300 volunteers to pack the food, set up, do all that kind of stuff.”
As of now, the class is looking for donations from the school and community. Donations are being accepted here, and they are continuing to promote the food drive to the students at school by hanging posters on the hallways for students to access.
“There’s donation links, there’ll be QR codes, stuff like that,” Hartzler said. “The biggest thing we need is funding right now because this this company doesn’t provide the meals, just the supplies. Then they give the supplies and then they have shipping partners that get it to people who need it around the world.”
Volunteer opportunities will come out towards the end of April for the meal packing event. Hartzler hopes that the students packing these kits and the people that donate realize the impact that this packing event will have on themselves and the world.
“It’s pretty cool to be a part of the Bridgeland community and everyone coming together and actually doing something physically,” Hartzler said. “Hopefully, this gives everyone a bigger worldview and a bigger picture of what’s going on.”