On Aug. 22, the RCHS food pantry, Food for Thought, held its first volunteer event of the year. During this event, they reached their goal of packing 24 boxes of food, and had 20 volunteers attend.

Food for Thought is an anonymous food service that strives to make students feel comfortable about food insecurity, and provide food to students and their families who need it. Food For Thought was started in 2022 by Dr. Sandra Hayslette and students G McKeeman, Emily McClung, and Caroline Diette.

Before the event, students met in room 125 to enjoy pizza and get an overview about what they were supposed to do. Afterwards, they grabbed their belongings and went in front of the school to start packing boxes.

Sophomore Sahasra Kandregula is a first year student working for Food for Thought.

“Compared to what we’ve heard from other volunteer events, it was the quickest that we’ve gotten through,” said Kandregula. “It’s a lot of fun because one, you get pizza and two, it’s a good way to help your community and feel the satisfaction that I know I did something good.”

Junior Madison Jones also volunteers for Food For Thought.

“I joined Food for Thought because I thought it would be a great opportunity to help my community,” said Jones, “Food insecurity is a major problem in Rockbridge. I regularly volunteer at RARA Food Pantry, and it has given me more of an insight on just how many families and individuals this issue affects.

A recent project for Food For Thought is a food drive. Every first period class competed to get the most food donations. Mr. Rhodenizers AP Chemistry had the highest number of donations. They won donuts and got a shoutout on the announcements for being the best first period class.

If you are interested in utilizing this program, please click here and fill out the form.