DAVENPORT, Iowa — Students from around the Quad Cities area set a record, bringing in a collective 817,038 meals to benefit the River Bend Food Bank in the 2022 Student Hunger Drive.
15 area high schools, with help from their elementary and middle school counterparts, competed against each other to match or exceed previous years' totals as they gathered food from Oct. 3 to Nov. 10.
"It's kind of unbelievable to me to think about how many people we're actually helping, but it's just one of those good feelings," said Alleman High School senior Annie Rouse. "I'm actually doing something and it's not just me looking from the outside. I'm the one actually participating in it."
"It's amazing to know that you can do something not just in our community, but throughout the state, that we can help that many people," said Sherrard High School senior Lauren Copeland. "We're all working together for a common goal. I think it's really cool to see everyone really chip in."
The total was announced during a celebration at the food bank's headquarters in Davenport on Thursday. The schools also compete against each other in divisions based on the size of the student population. The 2022 award winners are:
- Division C (up to 299 enrolled students):
- 1st place – Morning Star Academy
- 2nd place – Alleman High School
- Division B (300 to 1,250 enrolled students):
- 1st place – Orion High School
- 2nd place – Assumption High School
- Division A (over 1,250 enrolled students):
- 1st place – Pleasant Valley High School
- 2nd place – Bettendorf High School
This year's Most Improved Award went to Morning Star Academy in Bettendorf, who collected 100% more food from the previous year.
“The thousands of students who participated this year give me great hope for the future leadership of our community,” Nancy Renkes, president & CEO of River Bend Food Bank, said. “I’m overwhelmed by their creativity, determination, and compassion for their classmates experiencing hunger... It has been a great day for our community.”
The food is distributed to more than 400 hunger-relief partners across the food bank’s 23-county service area, providing meals to children and adults facing hunger.
In 2021, the Student Hunger Drive provided 734,781 meals, which was the previous record. In total, since launching in 1985, the drive has provided more than 16 million meals to the community.
According to a press release from the food bank, in 2021, an estimated 53 million people accessed food assistance programs across the U.S. With inflation rates and food costs rising, "the work of food banks and local food pantries continues to be essential to keeping families from making impossible choices between buying groceries and paying for other necessities."
This year, the food bank is experiencing a 40% decrease in donated food, while people's needs have increased approximately 60% in the months of June, July and August, compared to the same period in 2021. Renkes told News 8 that makes this year's Student Hunger Drive even more important.
"We rely on being able to go to manufacturers, to stores and rescue food that otherwise might end up in the landfill," she said. "Because of supply chain issues, all the things that are going on, it's been more difficult for those great partners of ours to donate as much as they have in the past. This event will provide hopefully more than the 730,000 meals we had last year, which is really critical right now for us."
WQAD News 8 is a proud sponsor of the Student Hunger Drive.
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