Key Club putting together meals for those in need
The Mars Area High School Key Club, a student extracurricular dedicated to volunteering and community service, will spend this Saturday assembling meals for those in need.
In collaboration with the Rise Against Hunger program, students will gather at the high school cafeteria to package 10,000 meal bags of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and flavorings that can be heated up with water to create a healthy meal.
The number seems large, but Rebecca Winek, Key Club adviser, said the process goes quickly.
“It’s so easy, because they set it up like an assembly line,” she said. “You have the rice, you have the soy, and you have the vegetables, so each child puts it in the bags, masses it, vacuum seals it, and then it’s packed.”
Key Club has run the event for the past two years, starting in 2020 just before the pandemic.
“It’s incredible how many meals you can make,” Winek added. “It gives the kids a wonderful way to feel involved, and it’s easy and fun.”
The packed meals are shipped by Rise Against Hunger to areas of need, often to crisis situations or to school programs.
“It’s so cool that it can go anywhere, because it has a shelf life of two years,” Winek said. “It really is not going to spoil, or be affected by the heat.”
The Mars Area Key Club focuses on volunteering projects throughout the year, she explained. Earlier in the year, students stayed after school to work on making blankets for Project Linus, and the group hopes to hold a blood drive in the near future. Key Club has also made meals in the past for MHY Family Services, and for homeless people on the North Shore through Mission from Mars.
“We make sure that (students) do at least two in-school and at least two out-of-school service projects,” she said. “This is high school community service — that’s what Key Club is all about.”
