NHS President and CHS Senior Maddie Doucette says the food packaging activity in Orono fed 40,000 people living in Maine.
“We were inspired and moved during our time at the Orono convention and decided to have a similar event in The County,” Doucette said.
The student organization aims to raise $5,000 by Jan. 19, 2007. So far, they have booked the food preparation event and have already received a number of donations.
“This is a major undertaking for us,” said Caribou NHS Adviser Ken Atcheson. “We’ve never tried to raise this amount of money in such a short time period.”
Atcheson says that, in addition to a combined $1,000 pledge from local grocery stores and $250 from Machias Savings Bank in Presque Isle, the NHS has appointments to speak with the Caribou Rotary Club and United Way for additional funds. The honor group also plans to ask elementary, middle, and high school faculty in Caribou for additional help with their effort.
“Dixie Shaw of Catholic Charities is offering her support and contacts,” said Atcheson. “She will also be interviewing members of the honor society on her radio program.”
Statistics offered by End Hunger NE, an organization assisting the Caribou NHS with their efforts, state that 26 percent of kids in Aroostook County are considered hungry, making Maine’s northern county the fifth most hungry region in New England.
“26 percent is a quarter of Caribou High School that go home with nothing to eat,” Atcheson said. “Here, they can have a nutritious meal, but when they go home for Christmas vacation the food is not there. How could we have the whole freshman class hungry, or the entire fourth grade class? That’s the percentage of kids facing this problem.”
CHS Senior and NHS Corresponding Secretary Rachel Soucy says that two types of meals are to be prepared during the Jan. 19 event.
“We chose mac and cheese and tomato and basil pasta,” said Soucy, adding that their mac and cheese is healthier than what most stores offer. “I have a chart that shows how much more nutritious the outreach is compared to Kraft.”
If their goal is not met, the event will proceed as planned with NHS members and volunteers working to feed as many as they can.
“We will be packaging the meals for about four hours,” said Soucy. “After that, we will send the food to Catholic Charities and Dixie Shaw will distribute the meals to food pantries across The County.”
Those interested in helping out can donate by visiting EndHungerNE.org and making a donation to event No. 97. Any checks sent to the organization should include Event #97 in the memo section. Additionally, checks can be sent directly to the Caribou High School NHS at 308 Sweden Street, Caribou, ME 04736.
“Our NHS chapter is very excited about this,” said Atcheson. “People are going to have a decent meal out of this. Abraham Lincoln once said that no one stands so tall as when they bend to help a child.”
