DAVENPORT, IOWA (October 7, 2019) — For the past 34 years, students from area high schools have joined River Bend Foodbank in the fight to end hunger in the Quad Cities. This year, students from 17 area high schools will participate in the Student Hunger Drive, which will engage them in meeting this community need, while introducing them to service and philanthropy.
Through the Drive, students rally around a significant community need – hunger – as they plan and execute their own food drives over a six-week period. They set their goals and work hard to exceed them, while enjoying a friendly competition with other area high schools. Students also learn about volunteerism through this hands-on experience.
According to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap Study (2019), one out of every nine individuals (and one out of every six children) struggles with food insecurity locally. They lack access to enough food to live a healthy, active lifestyle. Hunger continues to be a prevalent issue and needs a community-wide effort in order to solve the issue.
The Student Hunger Drive presents a special opportunity for the students to become a greater part of the community-wide effort to solve hunger. Students collect items in a variety of ways, from going door-to-door in the community to holding special events to raise money that they then use to purchase food. Students package the collected food and deliver it to River Bend Foodbank’s warehouse.
“We are so excited for the annual Student Hunger Drive to be happening again,” said Mike Miller, President & CEO of River Bend Foodbank. “The Student Hunger Drive will generate a significant amount of food for hungry people, provide leadership experiences for our students, and instill a sense of philanthropy in our youth, continuing the unique legacy of our community with an entire generation of citizens who learned about hunger during high school.”
Amounts are totaled in pounds of food donated and charted to watch for progress and to encourage and celebrate each school’s participation. In recent years, students shifted their focus from winning a competition to the nutritional quality of the food they are collecting for their hungry classmates.
2019 Student Hunger Drive event schedule:
• Monday, October 7 — Kick-Off Party, 6–8PM to be held at River Bend Foodbank, 4010 Kimmel Drive, Davenport, Iowa.
• Saturday, October 26 — Student Hunger Drive Mobile Food Pantry, 9:30–11:30AM, to be held at Our Lady of Victory Church, 4105 N Division St, Davenport, Iowa.
• Thursday, November 14 — Loading Day, 8AM–3PM, at River Bend Foodbank, 4010 Kimmel Drive, Davenport, Iowa.
• Thursday, November 14 — Finale Rally, 5:30–8:30PM, River Bend Foodbank, 4010 Kimmel Drive, Davenport, Iowa.
2019 Student Hunger Drive sponsors:
Arconic, Bechtel Trust, Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, Hy-Vee, Lujack Hiline of the Quad Cities, The Moline Foundation
2019 Student Hunger Drive participating schools:
Alleman High School, Assumption High School, Bettendorf High School, Davenport Central High School, Mercer County High School, Moline High School, Morning Star Academy, Davenport North High School, North Scott High School, Orion High School, Pleasant Valley High School, Quad Cities Christian School, Rivermont Collegiate, Rock Island High School, Sherrard High School, United Township High School, and Davenport West High School
About River Bend Foodbank — The Foodbank is the largest hunger relief organization in the Quad Cities and surrounding communities, having distributed over 17 million meals in FY2018/19 to hungry people in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. Our mission is to lead the community-wide effort to end hunger in Iowa and Illinois. We do this through food distribution in partnership with our 300 agencies as well as our Mobile Pantries, Senior Pantries, School Pantries, and Backpack Program. The best and easiest way to help is to go online: visit us at riverbendfoodbank.org.
