Healthy Food Drive

I recently went on a mission trip to Gary, WV this summer with my church youth group. It is one of the poorest areas in our state. I learned the children living there don’t have opportunities or sometimes the resources to purchase fresh healthy foods. My state is ranked as one of the highest for obesity in the nation and I wanted to do something to help children in my state from becoming obese.

I started a healthy food drive to collect healthier snack choices for an afterschool program. The school has a food pantry where the children will often eat snacks after school and sometimes take the food home to their families. I wanted to provide something healthy for them to eat other than microwave mac and cheese, candy or potato chips. Items we collected were easy to make, organic, and nutritious. I wanted the children to try foods that were healthy and still taste good.

I hope to have another healthy food drive to help feed the children there. This project showed me that no matter how small your change is you are making a big difference in someone’s life.

Jillian
State Ambassador
West Virginia
6th Grade