‘Feed the Need’ now a regular Knox Christian School ‘packing’
“This is the second year of partnering with Feed the Need,” said Silas Clark, KCS director of marketing and athletics. “Feed the Need has become a total campus event, which includes students and families in our Early Learning Center beginning at 18 months old, our elementary school, our middle School and our high school.”
“When the Feed the Need program was presented to me, I knew that it more favorably aligned with our mission and vision, which generally is to prepare students to be Godly representatives in the community, church and home while equipping them for success in this world and eternity,” said Bobby Simpson, president and head of KCS.
“We chose to supply food for those in need in Haiti for several reasons,” Clark said. “I like that it is in our same time zone.
“Our students are better able to relate to something happening in our same time zone,” he added. “Their students should be in school during the same time we are. We can talk about what they are doing at the same time as us.
“Also, there is an extreme need in Haiti, even before the current chaos there. This year, the unrest in Haiti heightened the need there.”
This fundraiser “becomes an ‘on campus’ mission trip for us,” Clark said. “From the planning to the fundraising to the actual one-day, on-campus mission trip, it checks a lot of boxes.
“We educate our students and families of the event, the needs and the goals,” he added. “This year, our goal is to raise $50,000, which will allow us to pack 10,000 meals for school students in Haiti, with the additional funds to be earmarked for elementary gym renovations.
“We first raised funds for a month or so in preparation of the one-day, on-campus mission trip. This one day, on campus mission trip incorporates our kindergarten through 12th-grade students working together in a controlled environment to pack meals.
A KCS program called Knights & Pages “on our campus allows mentoring between our upper and lower school students,” Clark said. “These students meet together at least once per month for a time of devotion and learning, especially during chapel times.
“Our seniors are paired with fifth grade, while our juniors are with the fourth grade, 10th grade with third, ninth grade with second, eighth grade with first and seventh with kindergarten and sixth with Pre-K,” he added.
“These Knights & Pages each have a dedicated time to work together on our meal packing day. It is such a wonderful sight to see these older and younger students working together for the same cause, building connections and life skills. It has become something they look forward to each year.”
The bottom line? “They are working together to serve others,” Clark said. “The paired up Knights & Pages (students) do the packing while being supervised by administration, faculty and parent volunteers.”
Additionally, there are other incentives taking place during the campaign that range from individual step incentives for funds gathered to class step incentives and overall step goals.
