This year, Adopt-A-Family’s Christmas food basket project became a service learning opportunity for Greene County High School students.
About 150 students from study halls, family and consumer science classes and other classes spent an hour at Clover Hall Friday afternoon helping Adopt-A-Family volunteers pack food boxes for 180 families. The first group of students did the hauling and bending to fill the boxes, and the second group inventoried each box to be sure it was complete.
High school junior Kailyn Christy said she enjoyed the experience because it helps people. She had been a Girl Scout when she was younger, an she said “It’s a natural thing to help others.”
Sophomore Victoria Johnson agreed. “We see the benefit of it. This is helping people in our community,” she said.
Guidance counselor Ruth Broman organized the service field trip and stayed with the students at Clover Hall. “It’s a strong visual for the students of the number of families in our community who are in need,” she said. “They see the boxes, and they know every set of boxes is a family that is struggling. They got to work pretty quickly once that sank in,” Broman said.
Volunteers, including members of the National Honor Society, arrived early Saturday morning to add meat, frozen food and fresh food to the boxes. Each family also received two gallons of milk and a Share Iowa food box.
A spokesperson for Adopt-A-Family reported that cash donations of all sizes had come in in time for the Christmas food baskets project, and that the board is appreciative of the support of the community in helping families in need. Adopt-A-Family’s two large projects are Operation Warm Hearts, which provides winter outerwear in the late fall, and the Christmas food baskets.
However, the group meets extraordinary needs of families at other times, and donations are always put to good use. Donations to Adopt-A-Family can be sent to PO Box 364, Jefferson, IA 50129.
