For the second year in a row, the Agriculture Career Academy (AgAcademy) will be hosting a Numana event. During this event, a group of volunteers including both students and community members will come together to package meals for people around the globe who are in need.
“This event was started out of a desire to give our students a chance to reach out to the community, and give back to those who are hungry. Since the students running this are in our Agriculture Career Academy what better way to serve than with food,” agriculture teacher Paxton Trembly said.
The members of AgAcademy and FFA have been deeply involved in this event both years. Specifically, AgAcademy students are involved in the organization and running of the event more than volunteering. Last year, the event fit naturally into the curriculum of the AgAcademy.
“This all started last year when Ag Academy was focused on sustainability. We learned how there were people all over the world, including locally who had no sustainable source of food and we wanted to find a way so that we could help them have a basic necessity,” junior Elijah Reddington said.
As this is their second year of the event, AgAcademy has decided to expand its operation. This year they hope to have around 300 volunteers and package 25,000 meals. These meals go to places like Uganda, El Salvador and other locations where they are needed. The roles of each class have also shifted as a new grade has entered the AgAcademy.
“Our first year the Ag Academy teachers contacted Numana and set up the entire event in which we packaged over 10,000 meals, this year the Junior class is doing the behind the scenes work. We planned the date, time and goals both meal wise and financially. Last year we spoke to the chamber of commerce and I took over the role of networking this year,” Reddington said.
In the end, the event is not only about numbers and curriculum, but it is also an event that allows students to add value to other people’s lives.
“We believe that it’s important to give back to the world around us. We have an awesome opportunity to have a group of students who have also caught this passion for the importance of feeding others,” Trembly said.
Reddington also recognizes that he feels more connected to the event than the role of an organizer.
“This is extremely important. It takes a lot of time, effort and patience and would just be easier to not do. But we are not doing this for ourselves, we do it because there are 9 million people who die from hunger each year due to circumstances they cannot control,” Reddington said. “What we are trying to do though Numana makes their lives easier, and feed a nation that is not sustainable so that even the most basic of needs can be met.”