Ligonier Valley High School
Senior? Yes
Elite top 100? Yes
Letters of recommendation: Letter of Recommendation 1, Letter of Recommendation 2
Service to my community has become a huge passion of mine. So much of a passion, in fact, that I actually started The Food 2 Go 4 Kids Backpack Program at Ligonier Valley High School. This program provides meals/snacks on weekends to children who qualify for them under Federal Guidelines for free/reduced lunch and choose to accept this food. The program has been initiated in LVSD as a response to the high percentage of students without access to adequate nutrition over the weekends(35% districtwide). The program has an annual budget of around $40,000 and it’s funded by the Ligonier Valley School District Foundation all through local donors. Since 7th grade, I’ve been an active member of the program helping pack food bags weekly for elementary learners. Initially, for the first 4 years of the program, Food 2 Go 4 Kids only served students in the elementary and middle schools. I never understand why Food 2 Go 4 Kids wasn’t also implemented at the high school and I wanted to do something about that! I gathered a crew of packers at the high school, coordinated with a few teachers, and we started packing bags for high school students to also receive on the weekends. We are currently packing about 20 bags a week at the high school.
It was also my passion for servant leadership that led to the development of my internship with my middle school teacher who runs the backpack program. It’s easy to say that Food2Go4Kids holds a huge place in my heart. A great accomplishment of mine is being a Senior Intern for Food 2 Go 4 Kids. Being that I’ve helped with the program since 7th grade, I love that I was able to tie my internship into it. At all of the Ligonier Valley School District schools, I make sure backpacks are packed every Thursday for the right amount of kids at each school in the district. As an intern, I’m in charge of tracking inventory and ordering more for the schools when needed. I wrote a grant to the Ligonier Valley Education Trust to get additional equipment for our “Food Room” to properly store the food in a more efficient way. I’ve created a Facebook and Instagram page for the program which has increased awareness dramatically, we have over 400 people that follow one page or the other. I’ve already had one significant donation result from the Facebook page. Additionally I’ve spoken at two community meetings on behalf of Food2GoForKids. I presented information about the program at a local Rotary meeting and at an association of churches meeting. Both presentations resulted in an immediate donation to the cause.
Nothing beats the feeling of helping provide food for those who wouldn’t eat much on the weekends without it!