Bettendorf High School Students Kick Off Hunger Drive

Students at Bettendorf High School are helping fight food insecurity in the Quad Cities. The term "food insecurity" was new to me, but I've learned it means "the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable nutritious food."
Today kicks off the annual six-week Student Hunger Drive whereby students will be collecting canned goods and non-perishable food items.
According to a recent Gizmodo article, 1 in 5 students are food insecure, or consider this; in a classroom of 25, five students don't know where their next meal is.
Not only is the hunger drive a way to get students involved with helping the community, but  the community can help by eating at their favorite local restaurants with proceeds benefiting the hunger drive.

According to an Our Quad Cities article two Quad Cities students have witnessed first hand those who don't know where they'll find their next meal.  "I've been helping at a homeless shelter and they serve food every Sunday," said senior Mary Therese Gehrmann. It's just been important to me because I've seen the people who are hungry and I've seen the people who do not have the capabilities to purchase food and the food pantry just does such a wonderful thing," Gehrmann said.
"It makes me feel like I am doing something that's really important," junior Ryan Longenecker said. "A lot of things you can get involved with in school such as sports are for your enjoyment," Longenecker said. "This is something I not only like to do, but it's also helping other people in a very real way," said Longenecker.

The hunger drive continues through Nov. 9 and the food collected will be donated to the River Bend Food Bank.

The drive officially starts tonight at 6 pm with a student produced skit. For more information contact River Bend Food Bank.