Hamilton Heights T1L1 students help feed people in need

Students from both Hamilton Heights High School and Middle School helped meet the needs of malnourished people in South Africa by packing food at the International Disaster Emergency Services (IDES) recently.

The students are a part of Teach One to Lead One (T1L1) mentoring. The food packing was part of a community service project where the students are challenged to lend a hand to people in need.

T1L1 is a community mentoring program that meets weekly with students throughout the school year. The program teaches 10 Universal Principles that are essential for student leaders to possess if they are to find their purpose and reach their potential. The 10 Universal Principles are respect, integrity, self-control, compassion, courage, teamwork, excellence, humility, enthusiasm, and honor. The students were encouraged to put the 10 Universal Principles to work in their community service project. They certainly delivered – packing 15,996 meals between the two schools.

Hamilton Heights Middle School students, mentors, and teachers packed food in the school’s gym on April 11. (Photo provided)

IDES provides relief to people who are hurting worldwide. That relief is often in the form of food, clothing, medical care or shelter for people who have been displaced from their homes due to war, violence, oppression or natural disasters. IDES also serves malnourished people, villages living without clean water and more.

T1L1 and IDES have been partnering together to offer students an opportunity to help people less fortunate than themselves. Since 2020, the T1L1 students from Hamilton Heights have packaged over 71,000 meals through IDES.

“I am always amazed at how hard our students work together when they know they are helping other people,” said Sara Colter, Area Manager for Central Indiana T1L1. “There are no slackers and no one complains about working hard. In fact, they are a little disappointed when it comes time to quit.”

T1L1 has been a part of Hamilton Heights since 2019. Hamilton Heights was the first T1L1 program in the state of Indiana. Since then, T1L1 has grown to five other school corporations. For more information on T1L1 in central Indiana, go to T1L1.org.