When they heard the Holmen Area Food Pantry had closed due to lack of food, the all-female leadership team of the Holmen Middle School Student Council decided to help out.
The council led a drive at the school that donated more than two cars full of food to the pantry, as well as using proceeds from the school’s concession stand to provide funding to the organization. Their help, along with the support of the community, allowed the pantry to reopen earlier this month.
“The great thing that happened was the community response,” HMS teacher and food pantry volunteer Pam Jameson said. “The generosity is truly appreciated and once again we will be able to feed the hungry in our community.”
The pantry, which is located at St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton Church in Holmen, distributes food twice-weekly to families in the La Crosse area. At the end of September, the pantry’s stores had dwindled so that the nearly 50 families that came for help that week overwhelmed the supply and Jameson said the pantry’s leaders decided to close.
The students learned about the need from their teachers and the student council decided to do something about it. The leadership team organized a food drive during the school week of Oct. 2 where students in all three grades at the school brought items to donate.
The council also manned the concession stand Tuesday and Thursday that week, with all of the proceeds from the sales going to the pantry. All told, student council co-advisor and math teacher Caitlin Clausen said the students collected two carloads of food items and more than $117 in funds for the food pantry.
“I liked seeing how excited the students got,” Clausen said. “They took the idea and ran with it themselves.”
Eighth-grade student Madeline Beinborn said one of the best moments was one of the days she went to collect her classes’ donations and found three bags of food. Even though it was still early in the school year, the council decided to do something at their second meeting and the students were proud of how quickly they were able to go from idea to action.
“It is really good that we did this,” seventh-grade student Alexianna Thoreson said. “I hope we can inspire others to give back and donate, too.”
This isn’t the only organization the council hopes to help this year. School counselor and student council advisor Jen Dienger said the council also plans to donate this year’s concession stand proceeds to Holmen’s Hope, the monthly community meal held at the Holmen American Legion.
“I think these students are amazing,” said Dienger, whose daughter, Finola, is also on the council. “It is awesome to see them involved in the community and representing the council. They all give Holmen Middle School a good name.”
