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Beans and blessings

by DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer | March 19, 2021 1:06 AM

Impoverished and pandemic-stricken families in Kentucky are about to receive an abundance of boxes filled with rice, beans and blessings to help ease the burden of hunger and hopelessness in desperate times.

"We got notified by the group we partner with, Champion, and they said they have a pretty big need right now," North Idaho Christian School communications director Jennifer Scott said Thursday. "There is a nonprofit organization there that will be handing out the meals to children in school who don’t have food at home."

North Idaho Christian School's nearly 200 first- through 12th-grade students donned gloves and hairnets as they packaged 10,000 meal kits during the school's third annual Feed the Need packing party.

Two grades at a time took over the gym and worked in assembly lines to fill, seal and pack meals that will go to adults and children in Appalachia who live in villages without running water.

"It’s really amazing we get to help them, especially because it’s for America and closer to us,” freshman Mollee Brennan said.

Her class was paired with third grade.

"I absolutely love it, especially that we get to work with the third-graders,” Mollee said. "We get to see them making an impact on lives, just changing lives."

Feed the Need is the biggest annual fundraiser for the nonprofit private Christian school, which receives no funding from the state, Scott explained. The goal this year is $100,000. Students are in the midst of a texting campaign for donations, and the school so far has raised about $74,000.

"It’s like a jog-a-thon, but the kids are getting to impact and serve," Scott said. "It's more of a serve-a-thon. People are supporting the school and helping the kids, and then we take a profit."

About 30% of funds raised are used to pay for the packing party supplies. This year, the rest of the funds will pay for security camera upgrades and new desks for first and second grades.

"They are literally falling apart,” Scott said.

She said North Idaho Christian is the only school in the area that gets to do this unique kind of event.

“I love our fundraiser," Scott said. "You’re not buying overpriced wrapping paper or popcorn or candy bars. The kids are getting an experience and it's really cool. And they look forward to it every year."

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DEVIN WEEKS/Press

Third-grader Madeline Olivier assists ninth-grader Ryan Collicott with vacuum-sealing a nutritious meal kit Thursday at North Idaho Christian School.

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DEVIN WEEKS/Press

North Idaho Christian School third-grader Andrew Griswold runs a completed meal kit to a table Thursday morning during a school-wide packing party for the Feed the Need fundraiser.

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DEVIN WEEKS/Press

"God loves you," faces of kitty cats and other sweet messages and pictures are on boxes that will carry 10,000 meals to those in need in Kentucky, sent with love from North Idaho Christian School.