Stone Bridge’s FCCLA participated in the Nest4Us food distribution drive on Sunday, April 26. These Bulldogs helped give back to their community by moving, sorting, and distributing resources to families throughout the area.
FCCLA, or Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, is a club that focuses on community based service, giving students the opportunity for leadership development through aid to local groups in need. The club partnered with Nest4US, a local organization with a mission of helping families in need who showed FCCLA members the importance of helping the community.
“[FCCLA] is important because it helps connect our community with the people at Stone Bridge,” senior and FCCLA Co-President Addison Allen said. “It also just benefits the public. All the stuff we do helps either foundations and charities or our local community through different service events.”
The drive was organized by the officers of FCCLA, like Allen, who came up with this idea to reach out to Nest4Us with the goal of attending this event after a positive experience with the organization last year.
“We had worked with them before, so we signed up through the same contact, and then we got a sign up so we made sure enough members showed up,” Allen said. “And then when we got there, we helped distribute the food by laying it out and then organizing it.”
Stone Bridge students arrived at a Sterling parking lot at 8:00 am Sunday morning to help sort and distribute resources collected by Nest4Us. Members worked diligently to help the drive run smoothly so that families could receive their goods in an organized manner.
“We got there, and we grabbed all the food storage that they had in their sheds, and we laid it all out,” Allen said. “We sorted bags so we can make sure that everyone gets equal amounts for when they come to the drive. We had some handout cold foods, milk items, pastries, cookies, and we had all these stations so that when people drove by their cars, we could give them food that they needed.”
The support from the club was important to the overall success of the drive as members coordinated and made sure the drive ran smoothly. Volunteers worked hard to stay committed to aiding families as they received these goods, not only impacting people in the community but also the members of the club.
“Many things were very meaningful to me at this event, but a moment that stuck with me was when one of the shy, young kids asked for a children’s book and read it continuously until he left,” sophomore and Secretary Lily Howard said. “The joy that he had over a picture book that many would think to be ordinary was inspiring and heartfelt. It reminded me of why we work with these organizations so that all children can have the same opportunity to follow their dreams and use their imaginations.”
Students learned lessons of compassion and humanity as they participated in the drive and were shown firsthand the impact they make by participating in events like food distribution.
“Nest4US has taught me how much it means to people to have someone look out for you,” Howard said. “For the past two years, we’ve done this food drive and have witnessed how valuable it can be to help those in need. The appreciation of families who need the resources we were providing was so rewarding for everyone involved.”
As for the future, FCCLA continues to make places to positively impact on their community. The club hopes to inspire their members to make a difference for all community members in need.
“I hope to see more community outreach in the next few years,” Howard said. “Since our club is fairly new, I think we haven’t been able to establish ourselves and our mission with everyone in our community. I believe we have a lot to contribute to Stone Bridge and am excited for more people to know what we do.”
