On the heels of a successful event last year to fight food insecurity with the nonprofit organization Rise Against Hunger, a group of Watchung Hills Regional High School students are setting their sights even higher.
On Dec. 14, they are looking to double the impact and participation and to package 40,000 meals with members from their community, including the Watchung Hills Regional Education Association (WHREA). However, organizers said that “with great ambition comes great cost” as the group will have to raise double the cost from last year’s event. Last December, the group of 125 volunteers came together to pack 20,000 meals in under two hours for people facing food insecurity. The idea for the meal packaging community service project began in 2022. Watchung Hills teacher Ken Karnas invited his students, their families and his colleagues to a community-service event with 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 nonprofit organization that works to bring food to areas in serious need throughout the world, through a neighbor’s church who ran a Rise Against Hunger event. “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,'” Karnas said. “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.”
Event organizers and volunteers posing for a photo after the 2023 event.
Following the Rise Against Hunger event in 2022, senior Brenda Graca, a student in Karnas’s AP US History class at the time, approached Karnas to ask about the possibility of bringing a similar event to the Watching Hills community.
“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,” Graca said. “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, president of the WHREA, about the possibility of making the event happen using the union’s resources and network of people. O’Reilly, who brought his family to the 2022 event, took the reins to make a formal contact with Rise Against Hunger in order to create an event for 2023.”As a union, we are always looking for ways to connect with and support our community and this event was an obvious choice,” O’Reilly said. “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 the event happen at Watching Hills. Throughout the spring of 2023, the students met to create a plan of action to create their own event. “We wanted the students to gain experience in organizing an event and in developing meaningful skills throughout the process,” Karnas said. “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.”
Before the end of the school year − in just a few months’ time − the students organized and ran an event at the Long Hill Community center. They fundraised $3,800 toward organizing an event that packed 10,000 meals with 75 volunteers.
Sophomore Sienna DaSilva was one of those students who became involved with the effort.
“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,” DaSilva said. “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.”
Due to the event’s success, they had more students and teachers ask to be involved and then decided to expand their efforts to make it an even bigger and annual event at the high school in December 2023. That event, on Dec. 9, 2023, saw 125 volunteers raise $9,500 and package 20,000 meals.
“The student organizers deserve all the credit,” Karnas said. “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.”
The student organizers responsible for organizing the coming event include DaSilva, Graca, Lauren Colatarci, Demi Doss, Angie Huang, Kate Holczinger, Lila Murphy, Niko Micheludis, Charlie Pearson, Abby O’Mullan, Julia Stine, Lavya Tyagi, Joyanna Wang, Emily Wood and Jocelyn Yeh.
The group is grateful for the donations from community-service organizations. With more work ahead of them, they are looking for as much support as possible in both volunteers and funds.
To donate or sign-up to volunteer, go to https://rah.my.salesforce-sites.com/events/donationpage?id=701Pj00000MDWa7IAH.
email: [email protected]
Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: [email protected] or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Watchung Hills NJ students need help packaging meals for the hungry
