Ninth graders visited the Children’s Hunger Fund warehouse in Frisco, Texas, where they packed boxes of food for children experiencing food insecurity. 

The Children’s Hunger Fund is a nonprofit organization that works with churches to identify children in need and distributes food packages through church pastors. The organization serves 33 countries.  

During the field trip, students learned how to assemble a food pack, which is a carboard box filled with food. They also watched a video about children experiencing poverty and learned about the organization’s mission and food insecurity statistics. 

Director of Service Learning & Community Engagement Jessica Chu said she hoped the trip would help students better understand the issue. 

“My hope is to raise a little more awareness around food insecurity,” Chu said. 

After learning about the organization and its mission, students were split into two groups and rotated between two activities. One group folded the cardboard food packs while the other filled them with food.  

“I think watching the class get to work was really uplifting,” Upper School Service Learning Coordinator Bob Hearne said. 

For several hours, students packed boxes with items including spaghetti, canned tomato sauce, vegetables, beans, tuna, cookies, granola bars and peanut butter. 

During the trip, students folded 3,504 boxes and filled 1,572 food packs, producing a total of 37,728 meals.  

In addition to packing food, students learned about the circumstances of children experiencing food insecurity through a story. The organization showed ninth graders a video about Bruno, a child who lives with his family in a garbage dump. 

In the video, Bruno earns money by collecting valuable pieces of trash and selling them by the pound. He uses the money to buy food for his family. 

Freshman Annika Singh said the video helped her put food insecurity in perspective, which was an important part of the trip. 

“I thought it was super interesting to learn about people who live in these situations,” Singh said. 

Reflecting on the experience, Chu said the trip served as a reminder that students may assume everyday necessities, such as access to food, are a given. 

“I think sometimes we take a lot of things for granted, especially because you’re just in the moment you don’t think, ‘hey, like we’re lucky enough to be at a school where meals are provided,’” Chu said.