Student hunger drive raises half a million meals

17 high schools from all over Iowa and Illinois came together to help stop food insecurity. This affects 1 in 8 adults and 1 in 5 children. After six weeks of collecting food, local high school students brought in 568,317 meals to the Quad Cities.

"I mean, it's really indescribable. To describe how it feels... it's just really rewarding I guess to see that you actually are making a difference. It's one thing when you see people working on homecoming and seeing people have a great time, but this really changes lives and saves lives and I think that's what is most important," Mitch Winterlen, President of his school's Student Council, told KWQC-TV 6.

This was the 34th year for the food drive. "This is a unique legacy of our community. We have now an entire generation of citizens in our community who have learned about the issue of hunger through their experience in high school," President and CEO of Riverbend Foodbank Mike Miller told KWQC-TV 6.

"We get adults who reach out to the food bank and get involved because of the awareness that gets instilled in them through their youth."

The 568,317 meals will feed 519 people three meals a day for a whole year.

(Photo: KWQC-TV 6)


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