Working to achieve Harvesters’ mission to “feed hungry people today and work to end hunger tomorrow,” the National Honors Society (NHS) took a trip to Harvesters on March 8. Harvesters is a regional food bank that serves 26 counties in Northwestern Missouri and Northeastern Kansas.

Students worked with the backpack program to put together meals for children who do not have access to food on the weekends when they are not at school. With about 30 members of NHS visiting Harvesters, NHS was able to assemble 850 meals in the course of only two hours.

Harvesters aims to feed 97,150 children a year and provides 19,500 BackSnacks to children every weekend.

“Harvesters reaches out to kids and communities by promoting giving back and donating food,” Taylor Schwartz, NHS sponsor, said. According to the Harvesters website, Harvesters even offers educational programs to increase community awareness of hunger.

This was the first service activity that NHS conducted as a group, but Schwartz said that they hope to make visiting Harvesters a recurring event. “Students got to see how the young in our community are impacted by giving back,” Schwartz said.