Every senior at Merrimack Valley High School is required to do what is referred to as The Senior Project. Going into it, all I knew was that I wanted to use this opportunity to help those in need in my community.

After researching hunger in the United States, I found that although there are many federal and state organizations that help fight hunger on a large level, the importance of a food pantry on a local level is huge. With that in mind, I challenged myself to do this project.

For me, helping to organize a food drive at Andover Elementary and Middle School meant that I would have the opportunity to both work with and also involve the students in doing some good for our community. The obvious problem facing food pantries is that food is constantly running out, therefore there is always a need for food to be donated.

On Friday, February 7, I had the privilege of visiting an assembly at AE/MS to share with the whole school the importance of food pantries and the details of my project. To spice things up a bit for them, I made it a competition among classes. The prize for the class that brings in the greatest number of items to contribute will be an ice cream party.

Food will be collected in each classroom from February 17 to March 7. At the end of the food drive, students will have the opportunity to bring the food from the school to the food pantry and stock the shelves. Hopefully, this experience will open the students’ eyes to see the problems surrounding hunger in our community.

I am so thankful to have the outstanding help and support of the staff at AE/MS.