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Elementary School Students in Illinois Collect More Than 750 LBS. of Food

December 19, 2017

Ali Wenzke's The Art of Happy Moving blog is one of the best resources for people who are planning to relocate. You should definitely check it out if you're looking for advice on moving logistics, tips on how to make friends in your new city, and so much more. Wenzke has also been a champion for Move For Hunger. She has written about our program on her blog, encourages her followers on social media to donate their food when they move, and, most recently, Wenzke decided to fight hunger in her hometown by organizing a food drive at her children's elementary school.

From November 15-17, students at Harper Elementary School in Wilmette, IL were encouraged to donate non-perishable food, such as peanut butter and jelly, tuna, canned soups/fruits/vegetables, pasta, and cereal, to help provide meals for their neighbors in need. Food drives are a great way to teach children about the importance of helping others...and they also tend to bring in a lot of food. This drive was no exception, as the Harper Elementary students donated 760 lbs. food -- which is enough to provide more than 630 meals!

Our friends from New World Van Lines of Chicago provided boxes for the collection and volunteered to deliver all of the donations to Connections for the Homeless.

Now that Wenzke has a success story she can share, she hopes she can convince other schools in the district to take part in the food drive next year. With more than 660,000 people food insecure people living in Cook County, including 1 in 6 children, we need all the help we can get. Thank you to Ali, the students at Harper Elementary, and the team at New World Van Lines for recognizing the urgency of the problem and working together to do something about it.

Make it your New Year’s resolution to hold a food drive in 2018.