On Wed., Mar. 21 Niles West social studies students traveled to Libertyville to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). Students worked at various stations for two hours in order to pack as many boxes as possible for starving children in Haiti. The students packed 117 boxes for those in need in Haiti, which is 25,272 meals, feeding 69 kids for a year.

The Volunteer Program Facilitator, Renee Zorc started as a volunteer after retiring because she believed in the FMSC’s mission. But it wasn’t until she traveled to Haiti that she realized the true impact of the organization.

“It’s really difficult to understand the impact that you make as a volunteer until you go and visit someplace where they use your food,” Zorc said. “I went to Haiti in September and I believed in the mission, obviously, or I wouldn’t have still been working here. But when you see those kids or those people receive the food and how grateful they are and how many would die without it, it makes it come home and be real.”

Social studies teacher, Dana Kanwischer has been bringing students to FMSC on a field-trip for a couple years; she hopes to continue this for the years to come.

“This is our second year doing it, I think it’s my fourth time. Doing some type of community service is part of the class.  Pretty much every semester we’ll try to bring kids. The kids love it, it’s great,” Kanwischer said. “Everyone is a little tentative right now because they’re just learning what to do, but once we get going, the kids have a great time, they work really hard, and I think they feel like they did something really nice.”

Junior Monique McDonald found this to be a humbling experience because she was able to give back to people in need.

“It is my first time volunteering. I’m labeling the bags with expiration labels. I really like it because watching the news and seeing so many starving kids and knowing that I can go home to a meal every day, it’s such a pleasure to come and do this. I can most definitely see myself coming back here in the future,” McDonald said.

For sophomore Adem Memidzan, participating in this volunteer opportunity was a satisfying experience.

“It’s my first time coming here. It’s good, we’re going along pretty fast, it feels nice helping people in need. I’m the bagger here so basically I open the bag, let the other people put the food in and then weigh them. It’s a feel-good type of thing.”