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Giving back

Middle school students join forces with Rotarians for Food for Kidz project

Photo by Jenny Kirk Marshall Middle School sixth-graders joined forces to package beans and rice meals as part of an annual Food for Kidz local and global hunger relief project sponsored by Marshall Sunrise Rotary Club. Approximately 95,000 meals were packaged on Friday morning.

MARSHALL — Marshall Middle School students teamed up with Marshall Sunrise Rotary Club members to package about 95,000 meals for a Food for Kidz project on Friday morning at MMS.

Sunrise Rotarian and event co-chair Eric Luther said it was the eighth year for the collaboration.

“It’s a good impact project that makes the students think, ‘yeah there are kids and families that aren’t doing so well in some other parts of the world,’ and we can give a hand to help, even in Marshall,” Luther said. “We are close to about 800,000 meals packaged. Rotary’s goal is 1 million meal packages — that’s one of the long-term goals we set about 10 years ago.”

Food for Kidz was formed to create awareness regarding hunger around the world and for the purpose of facilitating a humanitarian effort to bring about change. Kids helping package food for hungry kids is always a noble cause. And while the Rotary Club sponsors the event, Luther said the MMS students are “the stars” of the project.

“We couldn’t do it without the kids,” he said. “They do get a lot out of it, too, because they do the fundraising through the course of the year. They raise money to help cover some of the ingredient costs, which is cool.”

Luther said that since the students have an invested interest, they make sure to do a really good job.

“It’s giving back,” Luther said. “Working together, giving back to the community, teamwork — all those things are right in line with what the middle school wants to teach these kids.”

The fifth- through eighth-grade students arrived in shifts throughout the morning. Upon entering the gymnasium, each student was given a hair net and hand sanitizer. As students lined up, volunteers took a dozen of them at a time to their assigned stations, where they learned how to measure, scoop, seal and package the meals.

“I thought it was fun and it was a good experience,” MMS sixth-grader Linnea Williams said. “I sealed the bags. It wasn’t too hard. It went good.”

While the student assembly lines worked at a fast pace at 15 separate stations, a few other students had alternate jobs. After a handful of adult volunteers taped up filled boxes, MMS sixth-grader Mohamad Ismail transported those boxes to the awaiting truck outside.

“It’s going pretty good, but the boxes are heavy,” Ismail said. “I put them right here (on a cart) and then take them to the truck.”

When asked what he thought about the overall project, Ismail said: “It makes me happy.”

The meals being packaged this year are oatmeal and then rice and beans.

“The oatmeal will stay locally,” Luther said. “We’ll bring that over to the Kitchen Table Food Shelf. They’ll use that for their needs, for their clients and guests that they serve. And then the rice and beans will be sent to Liberia.”

In the past, the Marshall Food for Kidz project has packaged a chicken-flavored rice and soy meal. But this year, there was a request for rice and beans.

“We’ve done the soy meal more times in the past,” Luther said.

A number of students and staff from True Light Christian School were also on hand to assist with the packaging process, as were National Honor Society members from Marshall High School.

“It’s a great opportunity for the True Light students,” Luther said. “We invite them over to help participate. They’ve done that for the last six or eight years, too.”

Luther said the NHS members need community service hours but also seem to “enjoy it.”

“This is perfect for them,” he said. “These are some of the kids who play basketball or football or whatever, and they work alongside the kids. It’s a fun relationship and a fun mentoring experience.”

The Sunrise Rotarians help financially as well as with manpower during the event, Luther said, noting that there were little behind-the-scenes things like working with the packaging company that needed to be done beforehand.

The club also invites Marshall Noon Rotary Club members to also participate if they choose to. Some of the staff at MMS also assists with the project.

“The faculty helps along with the students in their advisory.” Luther said. “They help oversee the kids.”

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