WHS FCCLA collects 339 pounds of food

Food donated to backpack program Democrat Photo/Lindsay Reed Wheaton High School FCCLA members held a food drive Oct. 1 through Oct. 5. Students collected 339 pounds of food, pictured above. Non-perishable food items were donated to the Ridgley Baptist Church, which coordinates a backpack program for Wheaton Elementary School. In the photo below, eighth grade students, interested in joining FCCLA next year, help church members pack backpacks.

Non-perishable food items will be donated to the Ridgley Baptist Church, which coordinates a backpack program for Wheaton Elementary School students who "experience limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods at some point during the year."

The food drive was part of FCCLA's national community service project partnering with Share Our Strength -- No Kid Hungry, a program designed to alleviate the growing problem of hunger and food insecurity in the United States. According to Share Our Strength, 22.7 percent of families in Missouri experienced food insecurity in 2010.

The Wheaton FCCLA holds an initiation activity each year for the eighth grade students interested in joining the club. This year's activity was to travel to Ridgley Baptist Church to help pack the backpacks to be distributed to students in need.