This year has definitely been a crazy ride filled with tragedy due to the pandemic. As we are  all aware by now, this pandemic affects every part of our life, even hunger. Although things have been uncertain, the National Honors Society and the Student Council have teamed up to hold a local food drive at Wauwatosa East. They collected roughly 5 bins worth of food, nearly 500 pounds worth, helping to fill hungry stomachs in Madison, Wisconsin. From the beginning of December to the end of the month the clubs have gathered food, researched a place to safely deliver the food, and found out what that place needs.                                                                       

Due to the pandemic, food pantries need  more donations and money than ever. In fact, in Wisconsin, 1 in 7 people are facing hunger according to Feeding America. On top of that, food banks are helping 60% more people in times of COVID, than otherwise. However, due to COVID-19, donating food is trickier than ever, ¨There were some challenges with places not expecting in person donations. I contacted multiple food banks in Milwaukee and they were not accepting in person donations due to COVID,” says Senior and student council co-president Sienna Daniels.

It’s tricky to donate food now because food banks like the Riverwest Food Pantry are not taking     actual food donations and instead are taking money.  This is because it limits the contact between volunteers and food. In addition, sorting through the  food is a large and time consuming task which can be simple with lots of volunteers, however, due to the pandemic food banks have had to scale back volunteer teams. All distributions of the bagged food have been in drive bys to limit contact. Due to the fact that a lot of food banks are not taking physical food donations the National Honors Society and Student Council ended up taking the food to Second Harvest in Madison Wisconsin. Even through the challenges the food drive was still a success! Students in every grade enjoyed giving back to those in need. “It felt really great! It felt like we were making a huge difference.” says Sophia Heffner junior and a member in both student council and National Honors society. We asked Sienna what her favorite part was “The best part though was seeing all of the Donations. Thank you to everyone who donated!”