Students Partner with Crosslines to Serve the Community

On Monday, October 4th, NHS and Student Council members met with Crosslines of Springfield in the high school parking lot and helped bag food for those in need.

Crosslines is an organization that serves nearly 70,000 individuals each year, according to their website. They have a large food pantry, and they also have services such as mobile food distribution. This is the type of event these students volunteered at.

This event was in the high school parking lot, a drive-thru set up was in place so families could easily have their cars loaded up with food. It went from around 10:30am to 11:30am.

“Jobs people had included bagging cold foods, bagging produce, unloading the Crosslines truck, and loading up cars with food,” said Evyn Jones (10), a Student Council member who volunteered at this event. Another member said an additional big part of the event was setting up and tearing down tents to shield food from the sun.

Student Council members volunteered at a similar event over the summer, and while the setup was pretty much the same, there were a few major differences. “This was different because there were a lot fewer workers, so each person had had a very important, more broad job. However, it was still a very enjoyable experience. There was also a nice collection of foods such as extra produce from a local farmers market,” Jones described.

“I worked in the food pantry portion and this was very similar. The only difference was just loading things in people’s vehicles. In the pantry you just fill up their carts,” mentioned Miracle Tracy (12).

At all of these events, volunteers seemed to make a big impact. Kyle Fritts (12) commented, “It is so efficient in the way they set up and just have cars lined up. We fed over 100 families in our last event and I think around that same number the last drive.”

As stated on the homepage of Crosslines ’website, nearly 25% of the Springfield area is food-insecure. This means they aren’t certain where their next meal is coming from. Jones noted that volunteering at events like these always makes her feel like she is making a positive difference. “Hopefully we will have more opportunities to support our community throughout the year!” she added.

Student council members stated they don’t know when they will partner with Crosslines next, but they did say they have some exciting events planned for the near future!