From her role as a Noblesville Schools kindergarten teacher, Kristina Trusty knows first-hand that there are children in Noblesville without enough to eat. The Hinkle Creek teacher decided to take action and launched a program to provide weekend meals to approximately 200 Noblesville students in need.
“Hamilton County isn’t untouched when it comes to food insecurities at home,” said Trusty. “While children are at school, we can guarantee two hot meals a day for those in need. My concern is what happens from Friday night until Monday morning.”
With the support of Ivy Tech, Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank and various grants and fundraisers, meals will be packed by volunteers and delivered to schools for distribution.
One aspect of Trusty’s “Give Food Give Love” campaign included a food drive which ran from Jan. 29 to Feb. 9 and covered all seven Noblesville elementary schools, assigning each school a specific item to collect such as canned meals, instant oatmeal or peanut butter.
The results have been impressive with 5,280 pounds of food collected across the district. Stephanie Miller’s second-grade class at Hinkle Creek collected the most food with over 540 canned meals donated. For their efforts, Miller’s students each won a snow tubing ticket to Koteewi Run Seasonal Slopes compliments of Slopes President Brian Cooley.
Community members interested in supporting the weekend food initiative by donating or volunteering can email givefoodgivelove@gmail.com.