Sisters Christian Academy helps ‘Feed the Need’

It’s the holidays, and Sisters Christian Academy (SCA) teachers and students were busy last week, boxing gifts of a different kind.

A Feed the Need packing party kicked off early in the school gymnasium on Thursday, December 19, with a full school effort participating in the process of scooping, weighing, sealing and then packing the sealed bags of high-protein dehydrated meals in a box for hungry children and orphans in Haiti.

Robbie Gilliam, SCA principal, guided students, teachers and volunteers from the community through the process of packing 10,000 meals. Approximately 1,500 of those meals will be distributed locally in Central Oregon including Sisters Kiwanis Food Bank.

The scene was exciting and filled with energy. All the volunteers wore hairnets and gloves before handling anything. Huge bins were full of dehydrated food, with rice, soy, powdered vitamins and a vegetable mix that gets accurately measured and then goes into a plastic bag that is sealed and shipped to Haiti, where it will feed an orphanage for a year.

Gilliam told The Nugget, “This is a way for us to give back in the process of us raising money. Our biggest goal was to get the students to focus on something bigger than themselves and realize their world is bigger than Sisters, Oregon.”

Heather Commins, second- and third-grade teacher, noted, “It’s a great opportunity for them to realize how much they have and how much they can impact others in need.”

Science teacher Randy Muir added, “They get to be a part of the whole process.”

Kindergarten teacher Sarah Carnahan watched over the kindergarten class who took on the job of drawing colorful pictures on the boxes.

“Decorating the boxes is such a fun way for the littles to get involved with being a part of this project,” she said. “They are sending pictures and messages of encouragement to the students in Haiti.”

Haiti’s food problem is the worst in the world, with statistics revealing a fearful food crisis throughout the country. Two out of three Haitians are believed to survive on a limited sum of $2 or less per day. One in three children are stunted in Haiti, while 100,000 children suffer from acute malnutrition. Haiti has the lowest food availability currently measured in the world.

Sisters Christian Academy has a $50,000 fundraiser underway until the end of the year with donations accepted at SCA, or through a Mobile Cause app.

Office Manager Lisa Gilbert noted, “A portion of this money is for the food product and supplies to pack and ship the meals to Haiti, and the other portion will help upgrade Sisters Christian Academy’s outdoor playground and PE equipment.”

For further information call SCA 541-549-4133.