Pender County students come together to package thousands of meals

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Students at Pender High School took on the challenge to to package more than 20,000 meals Saturday morning.

Not many teens would volunteer to wake up early on their weekend to participate in a community service event, but nearly 80 high school students involved in Pender High’s Interact Club came together to make a difference.

“This is my first time doing it and it is just a blast to know that you’re helping other people, and all we’re doing is giving up a few hours on a Saturday to do it,” Interact Club Sponsor Bevin Stokes said.

The Interact Club has joined forces with an international hunger relief organization, Rise Against Hunger.

“We decided that as our first fundraiser we we’re just going to go big, and we were just going to try to knock it out and do it,” Stokes said. “So we set a really high goal, and the kids stepped up to the challenge and they made it happen. So really proud of them.”

Because of these students more than 5,000 dollars was raised to package 20,088 meals.

Before the truck can be loaded, the students had a lot of work to do sealing bags of rice, filling boxes and much more.

“I’ve done a lot of volunteering, but I’ve never been able to actually say ya know, I fed someone. So this is a new experience and a wonderful feeling,” student Trey Jordan said.

This is one experience all of these students should feel proud of.

The club also has a local service project going on. They are collecting scarfs, hats and gloves for their giving tree this holiday season.