cover story Story by Bailey Hemphill
Students from St. Gerald Catholic School get creative with boxed and canned goods.
Making the Grade to End Hunger Local organizations participate in a schoolwide project dedicated to raising canned goods for food pantries in the community
A
fter an unpredictable summer of damaging floods and grueling
heat waves, deliveries to food pantries around Omaha slowed, raising a red flag for organizations like Together, Inc., which depend on donations to help keep thousands of local families from suffering the pangs of hunger and becoming homeless. So, in order to restock the food pantry supply, Together, Inc. called the community to action. In September, the Omaha community participated in the Making the Grade to End Hunger food drive contest, a collaboration of Together, Inc., Omaha Serves, Sam and Louie’s New York Pizzeria, and Omaha Public Schools (OPS). The two-week contest had students from 17 elementary and middle schools in the OPS district bringing cans of food to their homerooms or classrooms to donate to local food pantries. Erin Stoll, Director of Development is in charge of fundraising, public relations, and marketing at Together, Inc. She is originally from Omaha and admits that, before her position with Together, Inc., she wasn’t really aware of the hunger issues, food pantry shortages, and problems with homelessness in the community—which is one of the many reasons why she wants to spread more awareness. “I feel really grateful to work with this organization,” she says, adding that, even though she has been with them for over three years now, continued on page 96
www.ReadOnlineNow.com
november/december • 2011
95