Woodlands Academy Students Help Feed Starving Children

Nearly 30 Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart students volunteered their time recently to help prepare food packets at Feed My Starving Children.

“One in eight people around the world goes hungry, meaning they don’t know where their next meal will come from and when,” a site volunteer told the students at the onset of their work Jan. 17 at the Libertyville site, 742 E. Park Ave. “Volunteers are the heart and soul of this organization. Without you, we would not exist.”

Woodlands Academy students and 30 students from Notre Dame College Prep in Niles volunteered together for their first service project. These students, as well as others including local Cub Scout groups, worked in teams for two hours to prepare the scientifically formed manna packs which contain vitamins, dried vegetables, soy and rice. Each packet is prepared in a particular order and weighed for accuracy before being sealed and boxed for shipment.

Volunteers that afternoon packed 142 boxes which represented 30,672 meals. This amount of meals translates to enough nourishment to feed 84 kids for an entire year.

Woodlands Academy requires each student to do at least 70 hours of community service prior to graduation. Many students, though, are passionate about helping others and perform significantly more hours.

###

Founded in 1858, Woodlands Academy is an independent Catholic college preparatory day and boarding high school for young women, and part of a worldwide network of Sacred Heart Schools that spans 19 cities in the United States and 44 countries around the world. A nonprofit, Woodlands Academy’s identity is rooted in Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat’s desire to inspire young hearts and minds to excel, to lead lives of integrity and to serve. For more information about Woodlands Academy, please visit www.woodlandsacademy.org