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Purdy students feed families in need

Taylor Lunceford, left, and Pablo Hernandez mix vegetable fried rice while making 250 meals for local residents in need as part of a class service project. Kyle Troutman/
Pablo Hernandez, left, and Easten Goetz hold meals prepared by a group of 10 high school students in Purdy as a service project for the community. Kyle Troutman/ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com
The Purdy High School Prostart I & II classes recently served 250 meals to families in need as a service project. From left: Amarie Burt, Taylor Lunceford, Teacher Amy Harkey, Pablo Hernandez, Will Henderson, JJ Aguilar, Manny Aldava, Easten Goetz, Aldo Perez. Kyle Troutman/ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com

Students in Amy Harkey’s Prostart I & II Courses at Purdy High School prepared and distributed 250 healthy, complete meals of chicken and vegetable fried rice for families in their community last week.

The meals, prepared through the Kids Feeding Kids program, were donated to families served by Purdy Prostart I students.

The Purdy School District worked with Kansas City-based food recovery non-profit Pete’s Garden to provide the service-learning opportunity for 10 students. Pete’s Garden’s Kids Feeding Kids program provides students with real-world, handson experience planning, preparing and packaging family-sized meals, while also learning about food insecurity in their own community.

The students do their own research to select a donation partner in their community whose services focus on supporting food-insecure families with children. In addition to preparing meals for families in need, students learn about the causes of food insecurity, maximizing nutrition, food safety and sanitation, plant-focused and sustainable food systems, and improving the quality of family mealtime.

“It was awesome seeing students have the opportunity to be servant- leaders while learning skills that will prepare them for life beyond high school, learning about those who may be underserved, and learning about its impact on their overall health,’ said Brian Anton, Purdy High School principal. ‘Students were excited to take home a meal that could easily be warmed up and ready for them when they got home.”

Kids Feeding Kids provides educators with standards-aligned food justice and culinary lessons focused on increasing food access, reducing food insecurity and raising awareness about the social and environmental impacts of food waste.

Educators who participate in Kids Feeding Kids receive lesson plans and all the ingredients and supplies they need to help their students prepare up to 1,000 meal servings that are free to families. At the end of the 2023-24 school year, over 753 students will have participated in Kids Feeding Kids and distributed more than 10,000 meals. Kids Feeding Kids is funded by grants from the WellSky Foundation and other donors.

Learn more about Kids Feeding Kids at www.kidsfeedingkids.org.

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