Plainfield Students Give Back: Trip to Feed the Hungry Makes an Impact on Seventh-Graders

Students at Indian Trail Middle School in Plainfield spent a day feeding the hungry — and learning valuable lessons in the process.

During a pair of Jan. 15 and Jan. 17 field trips to Feed My Starving Children, seventh-graders packed dozens of boxes with nutritional meals to be shipped to hungry children around the world.

Seventh-graders in teacher Laurie Davidson’s class shared their experience with Patch. Here’s a look at what the outing meant to them, in their own words.

Audrey Nelson:

On the day I went, we packed 62 boxes, and fed 37 children for one year. Look at what a few students can do in just about two hours! I think that it’s amazing that when we out in an effort, we can get so much accomplished. All of the food we packed went to third-world countries, like Haiti. Imagine what the world would be like if everyone in our town got up off the couch and helped someone in some way.

On this trip, I leaned to be grateful for what I have. So when you think that you have a terrible life, stop and think for a minute about the children in other countries. Omar, for example, is an 8 year old boy. He only weighed 14 pounds before he got the food from Feed My Starving Children. A few weeks later, Omar weighed 37 pounds. He was starved because of how little food he had. Omar was much healthier after he got the food. Children in some countries don’t get food for days, weeks, and sometimes months. We should all be more thankful for what we have, and we should stop whining about how badly you want that iPhone 5. 

Eman Naffa:

I was pretty lucky to go and do something special that changes our world. Just imagine if everyone took 2 hours to actually give from their heart what a difference that would make?

My group packaged 82 boxes and I felt very special. If I could do this service project again I would. I also recommend it to almost everyone. We were at stations and we were packaging food for kids. The food we were packaging was Manna Pack rice. It was actually a pretty fun experience. Starvation is an important matter and it deserves to be fixed in this world. We were watching a video and the lady in there fed everybody first and then she ate whatever was left on the spoon. I was thinking wow I have everything I need. I hope I helped people fight starvation. So don’t throw away food and be thankful for everything life gives you!

Alberto Corral:

It really was a moving experience, and it provided meals for many kids who unfortunately don’t have enough or any food. During the visit, all of us worked very hard to get as many boxes as possible. We accomplished 82 boxes of food. This food totaled up to about 14,000 meals. That huge amount of food would supply about 40 kids meals for a whole entire year. That amount of food really does go a long way to the children in other countries who don’t receive enough food. It’s remarkable what we accomplished, and what gets accomplished by many other groups that go to Feed My Starving Children for the volunteer work.

The experience itself was pretty good, you feel like you really are making a difference, and I’m sure that’s what really does go on when you do that kind of work. I’ve never done anything like volunteer work before, but it didn’t feel like just “volunteering.” It felt like you were a part of something that changes things. But what if there were more people doing this? Well, I’m sure there would be much more food going around, and people who are starving in other countries might not have to worry as much. It was my first time doing this, and I know for sure it won’t be my last.