You’ve heard it said that there’s power in numbers, and the students at Rushford-Peterson (R-P) Schools felt that power when they came together to feed 140 families for Christmas. The project was called Feeding Fillmore County and was led by the school’s WE group, comprised of juniors and seniors. WE is an international movement that believes when we come together, we can create an even better world.
Nina Torkelson, special education teacher for the high school, has been the WE Advisor at R-P for three years. She says the best way to explain it is: “You can’t change the world. I can’t change the world, but together WE can make a difference.” WE helps schools, families, businesses and individuals to make a difference in their own community. The WE organization focuses on five areas: education, water, health, food and opportunity. The WE group at R-P chooses one to work on each year.
“This year our focus was food,” Torkelson said. “We wanted to do something locally for the food shelf and contacted Semcac and Rushford Foods IGA with the idea of filling food packages for families at Christmas. We named it Feeding Fillmore County and set a goal of 100 families ‘around our table.’ Each time a food package was filled, we added a picture of a family to a large bulletin board that represented our table.”
The WE group, students and staff raised enough money for 90 families and the Rushford-Peterson FFA presented a check to fill 50 more food packages for a total of 140 families. The cost of one meal for a Fillmore County family is $34.50. Multiply that by 140 and that’s $4,830! Rushford Foods IGA purchased the food and the WE group went to the local food shelf to pack the meals. The food shelf is distributing the meal packages to families during December.
“It was great to see the students add the families to the table as the money was raised,” Torkelson said. “They would come and check and count how many families that we had. There was competition between middle and high school, with the middle school winning. There was also a competition between all the elementary grades and the fourth grade won. They were awarded a popcorn party with lots of goodies to celebrate.”
Lisa Lawton, Community Education Program Director for R-P Schools said, “It was such a great event. Everyone got involved. The students in the WE group went to all the classes discussing the project and how WE can make an impact here locally this Christmas for families in Fillmore County. We learned how we can all make a difference when we come together.”
Torkelson said, “It was heartwarming to see students come with their own money including birthday money, piggy bank money, or take money out of their own pockets to help someone they do not even know to have food on their table at this special time of year.”
Megan Oian and Lauren Lawston are junior WE members. Megan said, “It’s the season of giving and being involved with giving a Christmas dinner to 140 families makes the season so much better. Everyone deserves to have a Merry Christmas.” Lauren added, “It was an amazing experience to see our school come together to feed all these families. I was very happy to be a part of such a great project.”
Last year, the WE group raised more than $8,000 during Cancer Awareness Week in February and donated it to the local Relay for Life. WE also had an event for the people of Haiti that do not have clean water. The event included a replica of a hut that people of Haiti live in and a chance for those attending to carry water like the people of Haiti have to do every day. WE group also sold bracelets and the money went to women in Kenya for education.
Previously, the WE group sent items to troops along with cards made by the elementary students. WE sent supplies and snacks to R-P graduates in the military and others serving our country. They received thank you notes from many of them that told how they shared the items with their platoons or sent them on to others who needed them.
For more information on WE, visit WE.org.