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Hunger is an ongoing problem for many families in the Copper Country.
Programs like the one at Baraga High School provide food for students to take with them so they’ll have something to eat when they get home.
So when 11th graders Andrea Chagnon and McKenzie Barrett saw that supplies were running low in their school food pantry, they decided to do something about it.
Baraga High School Junior Andrea Chagnon said, “I don’t like the idea of children starving around the world and knowing kids in my school, in this small school, coming to school hungry, it didn’t make me feel so good. So I was, like, ‘I’m going to help them out.”
They applied for a grant from Roots & Shoots and received $250 to purchase food for the pantry.
Baraga High School Junior McKenzie Barrett said, “Some of the teachers got us food from like Wal-Mart and stuff and just kind of anywhere they had supplies for us. We got hair stuff for them to have shampoo and toothpaste and hygiene products for them to use and we also stuff backpacks every Friday and send them to places that need it.”
Andrea and McKenzie hope their initiative will encourage others to help keep the pantry stocked.
Barrett said, “To see the kids that are hungry be happy and actually do good in school because they have full stomachs.”
Donations can be dropped off at the Baraga High School office.
