Photo Credit: Flyer
By WHREA
Published November 20, 2024 at 5:36 PM
Last updated November 20, 2024 at 5:36 PM
WARREN, NJ --On December 9th 2023, 125 volunteers from our WHRHS community came together to pack 20,000 meals in under 2 hours for people facing food insecurity.
In 2022, WHRHS teacher Ken Karnas invited his students, their families and his colleagues to a community service event with the Organization Rise Against Hunger. It was part of a curriculum initiative designed to address economic crises, food insecurity, and community service. Karnas had come across Rise Against Hunger, a non-profit organization that works to bring food to areas in serious need throughout the world, through a neighbor's church who ran a Rise event.
Karnas: “I went to the event with my son and had such a great time that I found myself thinking, ‘I want to do more of this and share this with everyone in my life.’ It was in this context that in 2022 I offered this opportunity to my classes and colleagues. We had about 45 colleagues, students and their families join us.”
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Following the event in 2022, senior Brenda Graca (a student in Karnas’s AP US History class at the time) approached Karnas inquiring about the possibility of bringing a similar event to our Watchung Hills Community.
Graca: “At first, if I'm being honest, I went to the event because I thought that I could get in a quick two hours of community service to add on to my service log. However, I ended up having a lot of fun at the event. At the event I was talking to classmates, singing along to music being played, while also getting the opportunity to interact with other people. I thought it was amazing that so many people were volunteering with their friends and families. It showed me that it was a good way to help other people while also building important connections. I was actually really surprised that I was sad when the event was over since I was really enjoying it. I decided to follow up with Mr. Karnas and see if we could host an event in our own local community.”
After speaking with other students who had a similar experience, Karnas then reached out to Greg O'Reilly, the President of the Watchung Hills Regional Education Association, about the possibility of making this event happen using the Union's resources and network of people. O’Reilly, who brought his family to the 2022 event, shared that he himself had talked with Rise Against Hunger about this and said he would happily make formal contact with them to learn how to put this event on.
O’Reilly: “As a union, we are always looking for ways to connect with and support our community and this event was an obvious choice. We did our own fundraising to help meet the donation goal, and our treasurer Greg Krueger was able to help secure a $1,000 NJEA grant to help make the event happen. The WHREA was most excited to be at the event with our families working alongside students and their families.”
Within a few weeks Karnas, O'Reilly, and a small group of students began strategizing about the logistics of making this event happen at WHRHS. Throughout the Spring of 2023, the students met to create a plan of action to create their own event.
Karnas: “We wanted the students to gain experience in organizing an event and in developing meaningful skills throughout the process. This included calling locations and finding venue options, raising money to make the event happen, finding volunteers, and planning the actual event. To watch a group of mostly freshmen go through this process and overcome obstacles was a great experience in and of itself.”
In a few months time, the students organized and ran an event at the Long Hill Community center. They fundraised $3,800 towards organizing an event that packed 10,000 meals with 75 volunteers.
Due to the success of this event, they had more students/teachers ask to get involved and then decided to expand their efforts to make it an even bigger and annual event at the high school in December 2023.
One of those students involved was sophomore Sienna DaSilva.
DaSilva: “I first joined last spring because my friends were in it and I didn’t want to be left out, so I committed to it as well. However, once I actually became involved, my attendance turned into true enjoyment and passion for our work. As I joined in time for the June food packaging event, the five months in preparation for it consisted of hard work and effort for our entire group.”
Those involved in organizing the December 9th event, raised $9,500 and packaged 20,000 meals with ~150 volunteers.
Karnas: “The student organizers deserve all the credit. They set personal fundraising goals, they developed an event space and design, they wrote thank you notes to donors, and so much more. I am so proud of the level of ownership and effort they put into this event. I can’t wait to see what they do this year.”
After the success of last year's December event, the group has come together yet again but set their sights higher. On December 14th 2024, they are looking to double the impact and participation and to package 40,000 meals with members from their community. However, with great ambition comes great cost and the group will have to raise double the cost from last year’s event. Fortunately, there have been great donations from community service organizations who saw the value of the hard work of the students. With more work ahead of them yet, they are looking for as much support as possible in both volunteers and monetary value so there is a link below to donate online and sign up to volunteer (spots are limited)!
https://rah.my.salesforce-sites.com/events/donationpage?id=701Pj00000MDWa7IAH
The Student Organizers responsible for organizing this coming event are: Lauren Colatarci, Sienna DaSilva, Demi Doss, Brenda Graca, Angie Huang, Kate Holczinger, Lila Murphy, Niko Micheludis, Charlie Pearson, Abby O’Mullan, Julia Stine, Lavya Tyagi, Joyanna Wang, Emily Wood, Jocelyn Yeh.
Event Organizer Brenda Graca (senior) running music and taking photos at the event
Event organizers and volunteers posing for a photo post event
Front (L-R) Niko Micheludis, Landon Karnas, Emily Wood, Demi Doss, Jocelyn Yeh.
Standing (L-R) Abby O’Mullan, Lavya Tyagi, Ken Karnas, Angie Huang, Lila Murphy, Julia Stine, JoyAnna Wang, Sienna DaSilva, Brenda Graca
Local Middle Schoolers (Left to Right) Charlee Johnstone, Marley Jablonski, Kyliegh Briggs, Alessandra DeFazio measuring food bags
WHRHS students (Left to Right) Sr Emily McCormick, Fr. Franki Marino, Fr. Nicole Johnstone, Sr. Chelsea Fernandes, Sr. Riley Fullman weighing and sealing bags of food.