Mar 20, 2023 | Featured, In the News
Courtesy of Warren County Record
It’s rare to find a student who fully exemplifies the attributes leadership, dedication, and academics, but Warrenton High School student Grace Schlansker may be that student.
Schlansker is an officer for Warrenton’s FFA Club, and co-led the club’s recent Meals of Hope campaign, which fundraised and packaged 20,000 meal servings to be distributed to local food pantries. She is also a high-performing student who plans to graduate high school with two-year’s-worth of college credits.
Schlansker is currently enrolled in college-level classes in accounting, sociology, literature, algebra, animal science, art appreciation and anthropology.
“My goal is to be able to have most of my general education credits out of the way. As I sit right now, I already have 40 credit hours. I’ll be pretty much a junior when I go into college,” Schlansker noted. “I want to be a vet, and I want to reduce my time as much as possible. If I have the drive right now to work like that, hopefully it will help me in the long run.”
Schlansker is relatively new to Warrenton, having moved schools in her junior year from Timberland in Wentzville. She explained that she joined FFA because she wanted to be on the club’s trapshooting team, but that it turned out to be a school community where she was supported and encouraged to become more involved.
“I found that I love it a lot, and want to keep being involved,” Schlansker commented.
Q: What did you do to help plan Meals of Hope?
“We were in charge of the logistics of how many sponsors each student needed to get … and we picked a date and decided the logistics (for meal packing). In order to get the word out, we made fliers and each student got those. And then I was interviewed on the radio and spoke there about it.”
Q: What other FFA activities are you involved in?
“I’m the assistant historian, so I’m currently working on the scrapbook that records all of our events for the year.”
Q: Is it tough to manage all your college classes and activities?
“There are some days where it definitely is challenging. I call those ‘dance it out’ kind of days, where you just dance just because it’s too much, so you just sit there and dance for a bit.”
Q: How do you stay organized?
“I’m definitely a list person.”
Q: Does anything else help you balance everything?
“It sounds weird, but being able to work. At work at a vet clinic in Wentzville. And I have my own animals … just being out there with them and feeding them at morning and night is a stress reliever.”
Q: Where are you going to college?
“The University of Missouri — Mizzou.”
Q: Is there any advice that you would give to younger students?
“Find your passion and run with it. That’s pretty cliche, but it holds true.
“Then my second piece of advice would be that even if you’re not super excited about the classes you’re in now … it will get better. Once you find something you love, it will be great.”
Favorite food: Fruit
Favorite movie: “The Notebook”
Favorite show: “Gilmore Girls”
Favorite music: Older country music
Favorite destination: My grandparents’ cottage in Chautauqua, Illinois
Learn More about Meals of Hope
Ready to make a difference in your community? To learn more about Meals of Hope, read more here. To get you or your organization involved in our next meal packing event, fill out our form here. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Jan 31, 2023 | Featured, In the News
Courtesy of CBS19 News
LOUISA COUNTY, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — Instead of taking the day off from school, Louisa County Public Schools students came together to package meals for the Local Resource Council.
A day like this is a part of Louisa County’s Asynchronous day program, where students volunteer at various places across the county to make a difference on their day off.
“What makes these days so impactful is that we get to serve our community, we get to model giving back, and we actually get to learn outside the classroom,” said Heather Spaid, the director of elementary education for LCPS.
On this Asynchronous day, 300 students packaged macaroni and cheese meals, in partnership with Meals of Hope.
Each student had a special role, ranging from pouring the macaroni to sealing the bag to making boxes. They worked together and packaged more than 5,000 meals, which fit into more than 100 boxes. Each box also contained a positive handwritten note.
“I think that community events should be a part of the curriculum. I would love the Virginia Department of Education to adopt days like this, so that we can continue to teach our children they’re not too little to give back,” Spaid added.
Doing something as small as packaging food helps students realize the difference they are able to make in their community.
“You know our asynchronous days are all about providing community service opportunities for our students, families to come out, and give back to the community,” said LCPS Superintendent Doug Straley. “And Louisa is a really special place to be able to give back to your community is so important. And helping these students understand the importance is what these days are all about.”
The next asynchronous day will take place in February, and the school division plans to package another 5,000 meals and continue making a difference in the lives of people in the community.
Learn More about Meals of Hope
Ready to make a difference in your community? To learn more about Meals of Hope, read more here. To get you or your organization involved in our next meal packing event, fill out our form here. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Jan 20, 2023 | Featured, In the News
Courtesy of ABC-7 News
NAPLES, Fla. — In honor of the first week of 2023, More Explores has dedicated the week to popular New Year’s resolutions!
If you are looking to volunteer more in 2023, Meals of Hope in Naples is always looking for volunteers.
They have several ways that volunteers can help. Monday through Friday, Meals of Hope provides food for food pantries across Lee and Collier Counties. These food pantries need to be manned by volunteers to distribute the food!
They also need volunteers to make bags of dry goods to distribute daily!
Learn More about Meals of Hope
Ready to make a difference in your community? To learn more about Meals of Hope, read more here. To get you or your organization involved in our next meal packing event, fill out our form here. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Jan 20, 2023 | In the News
The Park Rapids National Honor Society packed 10,000 meals on Wednesday, Dec. 21 for Meals of Hope.
Courtesy of Park Rapids Enterprise
Members of Park Rapids Area High School’s National Honor Society donned their gay apparel, from Christmas sweaters to hairnets, Wednesday while packing vegetable-and-rice soup mixes for local people in need.
According to club advisor Jacob Hutchins, about 50 students helped out, measuring rice, vegetables and seasonings into labeled bags and heat-sealing them for the organization Meals of Hope.
“It will go to people that need it in our area,” he said. “We’ve got a whole assembly line.”
Teacher Amber Seibert said the club’s goal for the day was to pack 10,000 meals. Seibert also acknowledged that community groups donated money to purchase food and supplies for the project.
Learn More about Meals of Hope
Looking to feed the hungry in your community? To learn more about Meals of Hope, read more here. To get you or your organization involved in our next meal packing event, fill out our form here. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Jan 15, 2023 | Featured, In the News
Courtsey of Daily Journal Online
“Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve”, these words serve as the National FFA Organizations Motto.
December 13, 2022, the Fredericktown FFA Chapter packaged meals to be provided to students in the Fredericktown R-1 School District, via the Cat Pack Program and the Madison County Food Pantry. In total, the students of the Fredericktown FFA Chapter packaged 10,542 meals.
During the summer, the FFA applied for a year-long $3,000 grant through the National FFA’s Living to Serve Grant Program. “Living to Serve Grants provide an opportunity for FFA chapters and state FFA associations/foundations to seek funding to support various types of service projects through a competitive application process. Applicants must identify a community need that falls within one of four focus areas: community safety; hunger, health and nutrition; environmental responsibility; or community engagement.”
The Fredericktown FFA Chapter chose to use the money for the grant received to purchase meals provided by the Meals of Hope Organization. When the Fortified Pasta with Red Sauce meal was chosen, Meals of Hope sent all of the materials and food needed to safely package, seal, and label the meals for the event.
We have been doing this project for a few years, and it is always a favorite of students. Not only are they able to take the class time to complete some hands-on learning, they are providing necessary meals for the community. This is always a popular community service project for the students of the Fredericktown FFA Chapter.
Learn More about Meals of Hope
Looking to feed the hungry in your community? To learn more about Meals of Hope, read more here. To get you or your organization involved in our next meal packing event, fill out our form here. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Nov 3, 2022 | Featured, In the News
Courtesy of Los Alamos Daily Post and the Rotary Club of Los Alamos
By LINDA HULL
Vice President
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
The members of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos offer sincere thanks and encores of applause to the more than 80 volunteers who helped us pack 35,328 servings of pasta and tomato sauce on Saturday, Sept.17 for The Food Depot food bank in Santa Fe for our Club’s third Meals of Hope project.
In celebration of Rotary International’s Service Week, Sept. 11-17, the Rotary Club of Los Alamos invited local Kiwanis and Lions Clubs to join us in an even broader community-wide effort. We extend special thanks to their members and to Crossroads Bible Church, 97 East Road, whose administrators Kirk Christensen and Victor Rutherford generously arranged for us to use their large basement workspace. The church has opened its doors to this project each year since 2020.
Our thanks would not be complete without a standing ovation for the LAHS Interact Club, Rotary’s teen service organization. More than 30 enthusiastic members shared their Homecoming Weekend with us to help alleviate hunger among our neighbors in Northern New Mexico. Their team spirit energized all of us!
To start at the beginning, the dry food in bulk was purchased from Meals of Hope (MOH), a Florida-based food-packing organization that “inspires and empowers communities to come together to end hunger,” and was delivered on the 16th. After packaging on Sept. 17, the food was picked up by The Food Depot on the following Monday. The individual bags, each containing servings for six individuals, will be distributed to Northern New Mexico food pantries, including LA Cares.
The steps in between included packing MOH-provided plastic bags with seasoning packets and pre-stamped cooking instructions and nutritional information. In assembly-line fashion, the bags then moved to filling stations where pasta and soy protein powder were funneled into them. Then on to weighing, heat-sealing, and labeling with provider information. Thirty-two bags were then stacked on counting templates and ready for packing into cardboard boxes. The boxes were taped and loaded onto pallets for pick-up. It was then just a matter of cleaning up the workspace.
As in years past, this project was funded by generous donations from the community’s annual support of our fundraisers, Crab Fest and Brews, Band and BBQ. Additional funding came from a Rotary District 5520 grant, a return on investment Rotarians made three years ago when giving to The Rotary Foundation.
The Club also received over $300 in donations from the public towards the cost of the project. Those who were unable to attend, but would like to support the work of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos, are encouraged to make a tax-deductible donation to Los Alamos Rotary 1312, a 501(c)3 non-profit foundation, at PO Box 986, Los Alamos, NM, 87544. Please write Meals of Hope in the memo line.
As one Los Alamos resident expressed with appreciation, “We are often so isolated from all the people in town who really do need this help. Many thanks to Rotary for contributing to this much-needed service.”
And, we Rotarians thank all of you from Los Alamos, White Rock and Santa Fe, from Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, and other service organizations for your significant efforts to alleviate the hunger that touches the lives of so many of our most vulnerable neighbors in Northern New Mexico.
Rotary Club of Los Alamos:
For information about the Rotary Club of Los Alamos, contact Club President Alison Pannell, livukenjani@gmail.com. “The mission of Rotary is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, good will, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional and community leaders.”
Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos:
For information about the Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos, visit https://losalamos.kiwanisone.org/. “The mission of the Kiwanis Club is Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time.”
Lions Club of Los Alamos:
For information about the Lions Club of Los Alamos, contact Club President Logan Craig, admin@logancraig.com. “The mission of Lions Clubs is to empower Lion clubs, volunteers, and partners to improve health and well-being, strengthen communities, and support those in need through humanitarian services and grants that impact lives globally, and encourage peace and international understanding.”
Learn More about Meals of Hope
Looking to feed the hungry in your community? To learn more about Meals of Hope, read more here. To get you or your organization involved in our next meal packing event, fill out our form here. We can’t wait to hear from you!
