NAHS students help provide nutrition for families

Volunteers participate in packaging meals for Kids Against Hunger

Soomin Chung, Executive Design Editor|October 22, 2021

Soomin Chung

Wearing hair nets and gloves to pack food, Prosper National Art Honor Society members Elisa Arbaiza and Bhavini Prasad seal the weighted bags. The volunteers worked in an assembly line to package food, weigh and seal the bags. The global non-profit organization Kids Against Hunger held the event at the First Baptist Church in Celina Saturday, Sep. 25, to send meals to families in the Honduras. The volunteers will be participating at Grace Bridge Food Bank to package meals to support families in local communities Monday, Nov. 15.

As they moved boxes of bags of protein powders, rice and vegetables from a truck, the National Art Honor Society and volunteers around the community gathered at the First Baptist Church in Celina Saturday, Sep. 25. The global non-profit organization Kids Against Hunger prepared the event to package meals for starving families in Honduras.

Kids Against Hunger is an organization that works to eliminate the hunger issues around the world. One of their main events is preparing meals with nutrition to distribute to starving families and children in 70 countries. The packaging of meals is done by volunteers in the U.S. and Canada.

The hunger issue has been seen as one of the rising global issues for years. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that one in nine children were suffering from undernourishment in 2017. On top of this, every 10 seconds, a child dies because of hunger related causes. Although the hunger issues are not often reported around the community, 15.3 million children under 18 in the United States are unable to consistently access nutritious food.

Sharon Brian, who is the project leader at the local branch in Allen, highlighted the goal of this event.

“The main purpose is that it provides food for children in Honduras who are malnourished and don’t have access to nutrition,” Brian said. “We package in schools, businesses, churches and any group that will have us come out. We also have a place in Allen to forward packages all the time, and we provide service hours for people who need service hours.”

In addition to packaging meals, Brian said volunteers also get to engage in teamwork.

“It’s good team-building to get a group together,” Brian said. “Little kids like it because it’s something that they can actually do, and everybody’s making an impact because you’re actually saving lives with the food that gets sent.”

Gillian Diel, president of Prosper National Art Honor Society said that the event also allowed volunteers to connect with each other.

“Working as a team helped us to feel more comfortable with each other,” Diel said. “Which is great, especially since it’s still pretty early in the year, and we have some new people with us.”

The NAHS volunteers packaged 879 bags, which provides for over 5,000 individuals. The church in total produced meals for approximately 50,000 families.

“As a group we personally made 5,000 meals,” NAHS sponsor and art teacher Judy Seay said. “This contribution will make a significant impact in the lives of many people.”

Continuing to contribute to the community, the NAHS students plan to participate at the Grace Bridge Food Bank meal packaging Monday, Nov. 15. Grace Bridge is an organization providing necessities such as clothing and meals to families in the local community.

The Prosper National Art Honor Society is currently accepting new applicants. The deadline for the application is Wednesday, Oct. 27.