Boone Students Catalyze Community Hunger Network April 20 , 2016
Boone Students Catalyze Community Hunger Network April 20 , 2016
This spring , Boone High School students held their own Hunger Summit with leaders from the World Food Prize , Whispering Roots , Crop Production Services , and the Outreach Program participating . Students bagged 20,000 meals as they rotated to different speakers on the subject of food insecurity locally and worldwide .
The Hunger Summit had its origins in the 2014 Boone Community Hunger Banquet .
In 2014 , a Boone high school senior worked with Iowa-based Outreach Program , the school ’ s talented and gifted coordinator , and eighth-grade students to organize a community hunger banquet raising awareness and funds for community development in Tanzania . About 75 people battled winter weather to attend the Boone Hunger Banquet , where they participated in an educational hunger simulation , learned about Outreach and its work in Tanzania , and raised $ 756 to send Tanzanian children to school and equip a kitchen at a newly built children ’ s feeding center in Tanzania .
Students and adults from the community also discussed next steps , and there was substantial interest in sponsoring an Outreach Program meal-packaging event to provide meals for hungry people in the Boone area and overseas . This interest laid the foundation for the 2016 Hunger Summit and meal packaging event .
An important contributor to the success of the Boone Community Hunger Banquet was the emphasis on partnerships . Boone high school student-organizers worked closely with Outreach , and their decision to mentor eighth grade students supported the middle school ’ s service-learning and citizenship curriculum .
These connections led to the launch of the Boone Hunger Coalition organization in Boone County , which is now working collectively to bring services to residents of the community who are food insecure .
In addition , connections have been made to corporate businesses and non-profits who are collaborating with the 7-12th grade Boone students in ways that are extending the Science curriculum in Aquaponics . The program will be a part of the Life Sciences curriculum starting in the Fall of 2016 .
For more information about Boone High School or the Boone Hunger Coalition , please contact Ms . Peggy Watkins at pwatkins @ boone . k12 . ia . us or 515-230-4233 .
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