Monday, December 2, 2024
Student volunteers from East Meadow High School’s Key Club, part of the Kiwanis Club of East Meadow, will hold their annual fall food drive this weekend, with collections set to take place at the Uniondale ShopRite on Saturday and Sunday, to help feed hungry families this Thanksgiving.
The Kiwanis Club holds two seasonal food drives each year, in spring and fall. The organization collects sealed foods and ingredients, from canned goods to cake mix, in addition to gift cards for perishable items, such as dairy products and fresh vegetables. The goal is to provide every family in need in East Meadow with at least three bags of food.
“I really love doing food drives because it’s direct,” Kiwanis Club member Catherine Razzano, who has chaired the food drive committee for six years, said. “There’s nothing in between — it’s volunteers collecting food, and that food gets sorted by the kids and goes right into the homes of people who need it, and this one is actually really embedded in the East Meadow community.”
Volunteers encourage community members to give what they can.
“The kids come and they donate their time, and we give fliers to people going into the stores that ask them to bring a nonperishable item out that is going to go directly into the homes of people who need it,” Razzano said. “Not only do they hand out the fliers, but they get the groceries from the people coming out of the stores. Then we take them to a holding location to get it organized.”
As Thanksgiving approaches, the food will be moved from storage to W.T. Clarke High School, where it will be prepared for distribution by students and their families.
“The families (who receive donations) are given to us by the social workers at each school in the district,” Razzano explained. “Last year I actually had a family that said they’ve been on our list and now they’re not. That’s what it’s about, getting people through a difficult time in their life so that they can be self-sufficient.”
The Key Club is a division of the Kiwanis Club that gets young people involved in community service events.
“We have over 200 students in the club,” said Carly Salzman, school counselor at East Meadow High and the Key Club adviser. “They have such a passion for it, and it definitely drives me to do this for them.”
“Often they’ll start at the club and want it for their college resume, and then they fall in love with the service piece of it,” Salzman added. “I think that it can be life-changing for the kids to see what their hard work can produce.”
Key Club President Nichole Manalil, a senior at the high school, helped rally volunteers to participate in the event, and led the organization of donations. “When we get donations, it’s such a heartwarming feeling, that kindness from total strangers who are going throughout their day and donate what they can,” she said.
Taking part in the food drive gave Manalil a new perspective on life, she said, and drove her to consider how to use her position in the community for good.
“All these events have taught me who I want to be for the future,” she said. “This will be my seventh year being a member of Kiwanis, and it’s just taught me so many values that I would love to live by.
“I want to be able to give back whatever I can and make people feel empowered to live their lives,” Manalil added. “I’m so glad that we have this organization that teaches young students like me how to become leaders, and how to take part and really take action in our community right away.”
To learn more about East Meadow Kiwanis and future events, visit EastMeadowKiwanis.org.
