GIVING BACK

By: Morghan Blechschmid, Jonathan Drake, and Lexi Jenkins

January 30, 2020

On Thursday, January 30, the AVID 9 class went on a field trip to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank (GCFB) to help out with the packaging and preparing of food for homeless people.

The Greater Cleveland Food Bank works to make sure that everybody in our surrounding communities has nutritious foods on a daily basis. The GCFB is a non-profit organization, working only for the benefits of others who need assistance.

Mr. Jonathon Holko (AVID 9 teacher) said in an interview, “Instead of worrying about ourselves, helping others is the greatest way to show love and humanity.”

The GCFB is the largest hunger-relief organization in Northeast Ohio, having served more than 350,000 people in 2019 in Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Ashland, and Richland counties.

When asked why he believes giving back is so important, Holko said, “Because none of us got to where we are without others helping us. Sometimes, people need a little jump start in life to feel confident and to give them hope and optimism.”

In 2018-2019, the GCFB provided application assistance to more than 33,000 eligible people in Northeast Ohio through their SNAP (Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program) outreach efforts.

When asked about his view on homelessness in the Greater Cleveland area, Matt Jackson (Volunteer Experience Manager at the GCFB) said, “Our outreach team works with a lot of organizations in the community that is geared towards helping the homeless, not just with food help, but connecting to other resources as well. We know that homelessness is a contributing factor to hunger and vice versa. Everything is connected, and here at the food bank, we do push to connect people to other modes of help as well.”

While at the GCFB, the AVID 9 students worked together to prepare food bags to be passed out to homeless people, and everyone had to work together to make sure that everything was done correctly. The students had to make sure that everybody was constantly on the same page to ensure that the process flowed smoothly. 

“So, we literally couldn’t do as much as we do without our volunteer support. Our volunteer effort helps us save about 2.2 million dollars each year that we are able to reinvest into supporting our program. Last year, about 350,000 individuals made over 50 million meals,” stated Jackson.

Holko said, “This field trip was important because it’s good for students to get outside of their comfort zones and to get outside of the school to assist others. We talk on a regular basis that when you think you have it bad, somebody else always has it worse.”

If you ever have the chance to come out and volunteer, the GCFB is always taking volunteers, and your work truly does help. 

The work is pretty easy for how much of an impact it will have on people’s lives.

Serving others is our calling.