For The Herald Bulletin
MUNCIE — Second Harvest Food Bank was full of enthusiastic teenagers from east-central Indiana during its Loading Day and Awards Party for the Student Food Drive.
The Student Food Drive was a six-week-long project involving 14 high schools from east-central Indiana. Students found creative ways to collect nonperishable food items for Second Harvest to distribute to hungry people. They were encouraged to use their leadership and teamwork skills, become involved in a community service project and become more aware of the increasing hunger needs in our communities.
Schools donated 16, 386 pounds of food. This food will be distributed to Second Harvest agencies in the school’s communities. The food drive was made possible through a grant from Tyson Foods and Feeding America. Other sponsors were WLBC, Pizza Hut & Wings Street, Muncie Star Press, A-1 Graphics and Pepsi. There was also grant support from Ball Brothers Foundation.
Schools collecting the most food received prizes from Tyson Foods. In Division A (large schools), first place was Mississinewa High School with 3,572 pounds and second place was Delta High School with 2,360 pounds. In Division B (small schools), first place went to Frankton High School with 4,229 pounds and second place was Randolph Southern High School with 1,179 pounds.
Frankton was also the talent competition and Creative event winner. The Eagles did a rendition of “Proud Mary,” renamed “Proud Donation,” and hosted the first Frankton High School Jail & Bail, where students donated food items or money to have their teachers locked up and jailed for an hour. Substitutes were on hand to cover classes, and the teachers were able to serve a reduced sentence if they matched the amount of donations contributed on their behalf.
Second Harvest plans to make this an annual event. Second Harvest distributes food in eight counties: Blackford, Delaware, Henry, Grant, Madison, Jay, Randolph and Wabash.
