BASTROP HIGH LUNCH LEFTOVERS HELP FEED KIDS IN NEED
Last year, members of the Bastrop High School student council and president’s club noticed a disheartening trend: A large portion of the food served to students at lunchtime was ending up in the trash.
With the help of their teacher, Megan Hancock, they brainstormed ideas on how they could put the wasted food to good use. It became the impetus for a new program called Bears Who Care, which has provided meals to more than 500 students in need.
Since January, select students have volunteered during the school’s two lunch periods to collect food bound for the trash. They set up a table in the cafeteria and invite anyone to drop in leftover fruit, granola bars or other nonperishable items that can be reused for students in need of a meal.
Now that word has spread about the program, many of the kids simply leave their leftovers at the end of the lunch table, ready for students to collect it. No one waits by the trashcan, Hancock said. The program is completely voluntary, and students have been happy to give.
At the end of lunch, volunteers take the food to the Student Council classroom in a portable building on campus and organize it in a refrigerator by expiration date. When they get a call about a student in need, they bag a lunch and hand-deliver it. It’s usually stocked with fruit and granola bars, milk and a peanut butter sandwich. Bears Who Care has done additional fundraising to buy the bread and peanut butter needed to make a more balanced meal.
The free meals are available to all students any time of day.
“If anyone needs it, we’re there,” Hancock said.
Sometimes teachers and administrators identify kids in need, but any student can text 81010 anonymously through the app Remind to get a free meal. They can also stop by the student council classroom at any time to get a lunch.
In addition to helping students who might not otherwise have a meal to eat, it has also helped the students who roll out the program, Hancock said.
“It’s been a really big eye-opener for kids,” she said. “Because we take so much for granted.”
“Usually when you do something for kids or the community, you don’t get to actually see it in action,” sophomore Sarah Ghormley, 15, said. “This you actually get to pick up the food, put it in the basket, put it in the fridge, and you actually get to deliver it to the kids personally. You actually get to see that you’re making an impact.”
While Hancock said they always have something to give, she admits resources have shrunk to lower numbers. After hearing of the program, the ninth-grade girls youth group at River Valley Church had taken up a collection and given the school bulk amounts of ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese. Those supplies have dwindled, and the program could use more support, Hancock said.
Anyone wishing to donate nonperishable food items can contact Hancock at mhancock@bisdtx.org.
The program will continue the remainder of the school year and into next year, Hancock said.
“It’s made too big of an impact to not continue.”