Meet the teen behind Kids Feeding Kids Club

When Carson Pazdan was 5 years old, he had a question for his mother, Alyssa.

“I asked, ‘why don't people have food?'” he remembers.

As with most children his age, Carson had not yet been confronted with the idea of poverty, and had it not been for a little boy's interest in cookbooks, he probably would have been much older by the time he'd first been made aware.

“I had a paper cookbook. It was computer paper, stapled together with random recipes and I experimented with that,” he said.

Recipes led to a discussion between Carson and his mother about food and people who don't have enough.

“We got in a long discussion about how some people don't have food,” Carson recalled. “We worked our way from there, and it worked out that I wanted to give to people who didn't have food, and this entire journey stemmed from that.”

Carson wanted to raise money to fill the local food bank and came up with the idea of a club for kids with like-minded pursuits and began the Kids Feeding Kids Club, a nonprofit charity.

Its first fundraiser was self-publishing a professional-type cookbook with recipe contributions from family, friends, neighbors and community members. The book was offered for sale at $20.

“We worked schools, churches and community organizations, as well a grass-roots networking,” Alyssa Pazdan said.

Media soon picked up on the story and the Pazdans received recipe contributions from Maria Shriver, Oprah Winfrey, Chris O'Donnell and Sean Hayes.

The project ended up adding $20,000 worth of food at the Northern Illinois Food Bank; however, they now contribute locally.

“In the past years we only give to Cuba Township Food Pantry,” Alyssa said. “If we were in the situation where we'd need a food pantry, that's the one we'd go to.”

That experience seems highly unlikely, however. Carson, now a tall young man of 14 and a student at Barrington Middle School Prairie Campus, lives in a large house in Barrington with his parents and his two younger sisters, along with a friendly Labradoodle and all the comforts of home. His family's lack of necessity didn't cause him to take his eye off the ball. He continues to run Kids Feeding Kids Club for those who are less fortunate than he.

“We've been going strong for nine years. We've kept up with our fundraisers and drives,” Carson said.

Alyssa's community networks have propelled the various fundraisers that have taken place over the years.

“We have deep roots with three schools and I volunteer for a lot of organizations,” Alyssa said, adding, “I know a lot of people.”

A handful of fundraisers are planned each year with fresh ideas to capture the attention of the sometimes-overwhelming number of charitable events in the area.

“Every year at Countryside Elementary in Barrington, we've done two food drives: We Scare Hunger and a drive-through event at the school,” Carson said.

Kids that volunteer with Countryside Cares, a school-based organization, step up to help with both endeavors. Countryside Cares involves children raiding their home pantries (with permission, of course.}

“They (the volunteers) help to make bags to send home, and then kids take food out of their own pantry and put it in the bag and bring that back,” Carson said.

The drive-through event is as it sounds. Parents load food donations into their cars and drop them off at school with their kids.

“All the volunteer kids take the food so no one even has to get out of their car,” said Carson.

Aside from the two annual food drives at Countryside Elementary, the organization hosts other events.

“We do a lot of different type things,” Alyssa said. “What's great about these things, it's not just about writing a check or just donating. It's providing a hands-on option for the kids. It's different because the kids are literally rolling up their sleeves.”

“We partnered with Barrington Children's Charities. We did a roller rink fundraiser with two different groups at Countryside Elementary: Countryside Cares and Student Council,” Alyssa recalls. “We had a big red carpet movie premiere event and did Stars in Cars, which was at a car dealership. A lot of the (Chicago) Bears were there. We've done a lot of small things where we had kids over and we loaded lunchboxes.”

Carson has come along way, and not just in his physical growth. He thinks the way people perceive him has also evolved.

“Hopefully, when I was younger people would go, ‘Aw that's cute,'” Carson said. “As I became more mature, I started realizing that this could possibly make a difference, so I wanted to keep doing it. People started realizing it's not just my mom telling me, ‘Do this, do that.' I genuinely wanted to help people, so I think I gained respect from adults.”

In the meanwhile, Carson is sketching out his future, including going to high school next year and college after that. He expects to continue with Kids Feeding Kids alongside whatever career he chooses.

“I'd like to do something creative or be a lawyer,” he said.

He's hopeful that the kids he's worked with and mentored will go forward with Kids Feeding Kids when he's no longer in the community to organize the events, possibly expanding them to other schools. He also looks to his two younger sisters, hoping Lucciana, 10, and Francesca, 7, will take an interest.

“Lucciana has stepped up at the elementary school in her own way,” Carson pointed out. “She's starting to gather the courage to talk in front of large groups of kids — and it takes courage, because kids are scary.”

Although he does all that he can through the Kids Feeding Kids Club, Carson is realistic about solving childhood hunger in America.

“The problem will always be there, even if every single person was trying to fix it. It will still be there. But it's always nice to help somebody that doesn't have the things that most of us have,” Carson said. “Hopefully I'll be able to pass the Kids Feeding Kids torch to her.”

For information on the Kids Feeding Kids Club, visit www.facebook.com/kidsfeedingkids1/.

How you can help

Donate items: The upcoming drive-through food donation event, set for May 8 at Countryside Elementary in Barrington, is for Countryside families only. However, if you contact Kids Feeding Kids Club on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kidsfeedingkids1/">Facebook</a>, a member of the organization will be sent out to pick up any items to be donated.

What to donate: Nonperishables are appreciated, but household items such as toilet paper, cleaners, toothpaste and toothbrushes are needed. Jewel gift cards are also helpful.

Start your own chapter: Kids Feeding Kids Club is looking to expand to other schools. The club hosts two events every year — We Scare Hunger in October and the drive-through food donation in May. We Scare Hunger works by sending students home with a bag with a note attached, asking for donations from the family pantry. Those interested in holding a similar event at their school will receive a visit from a representative of Kids Feeding Kids Club and will be supplied with bags and messages. The club will collect the donations. The same plan will exist for those who would prefer the May drive-through event. Assistance will be offered to create an event for families to drop off donations at their local school at the same time they drop off their kids, without having to leave the car. Kids Feeding Kids Club will also collect donations for this event.

Read the cookbook: Carson's cookbook is no longer available for purchase, but there is a copy at the Barrington Area Library, 505 N. Northwest Hwy.

Reach out: Kids Feeding Kids Club is a nonprofit charity that can be contacted through its Facebook page, <a href="">www.facebook.com/kidsfeedingkids1/</a>.