The freshmen members of Park University’s Honors Academy organized a food drive, collecting nearly a thousand items for Harvesters and the Pirate Pantry the week of April 15.

As a requirement for their LE 100 class, the Honors Academy freshmen were asked to come up with a project.

The group asked that between Monday, April 15, and Friday, April 19, students and faculty bring in as many non-perishable, nutritious foods as possible to be donated to Harvesters and the Pirate Pantry.

“We ended up collecting nearly a thousand items,” freshman logistics and computer information systems major Sophie Roper said. “Then we divided that amongst the Pirate Pantry here at the university and Harvesters.”

Roper, along with her classmates, reached out to the Pirate Pantry on the Parkville campus, to see what items then needed specifically.

“We divided it by what they needed,” Roper said. “So, we reached out to the Pirate Pantry and gave them more specific items.”

Of the donations collected, around two-thirds went to Harvesters, a regional food bank in northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas.

The freshmen chose to do this donation drive at a time when the food banks are low in stock.

“During Christmas, the food banks get lot of goods and stuff, and it is really great for the next few weeks. But as the months and weeks go by, those banks start to get empty,” freshman undeclared major Johnathan Rizzi said. “So, having a food drive around like the Easter season, or just later in the year helps keep those families and patrons of those organizations like Harvesters, helps keep them full.”

The Honors Academy freshmen donated almost a thousand items to those who needed it most, in a time when what they need is hard to come by. The Honors Academy Food Drive may have been for a class requirement, but the students chose to do something that would have a very lasting positive impact on the lives of those receiving their donations.