MIDDLETON, Wis. (WMTV) – Several Middleton High School students spent their Saturday standing outside in the cold, but for good reason—they are hoping to positively impact their community.
The students host the drives monthly through the nonprofit ‘Middleton Meals Matter.’ The organization was created by two high schoolers who are committed to fighting hunger in the Middleton community.
Grace Parker helped co-found the nonprofit with her two classmates.
“At first, they started thinking globally,” Parker said. “But then they found out that the need was actually greater here in Middleton, and they wanted to focus on helping out their neighbors before helping out other people.”
The students distribute a list of needed items to those entering the grocery store, giving people time to decide if they want to purchase one or more of them. If so, they can drop the nonperishables off as they exit.
“People love the idea in how we kind of approach stuff like that, and they’re very susceptible to it,” Parker said. “And we find we have a lot of success with it and people are more likely to come back and say, ‘this is really great’ and ‘really happy to help out.’”
They partner with WayForward Resources, who locally distributes the food.
In their first two drives held in July, the students collected over 4,000 pounds of food and more than $4,000, breaking WayForward Resource’s single food drive record. But winter presents challenges.
“It’s definitely harder in the winter because it’s all chilly and people don’t really want to interact,” Parker said. “They just want to go in the store and speed up. But yeah, it’s just a little bit harder.”
The students have to work even harder to reach people. But senior Nebil Siraj says the strong sense of comradery is evident in the overall support they receive.
“We’re the ‘good neighbor city’ of course,” he said. “As long as we’re warm, I keep a good smile on my face, and it passes on to everyone else.”
Those who work on the other side of the pantry door say local efforts are critical.
“We love it because lots of times we’re short of food,” weekly volunteer with WayForward Resources Tom Jordan said. “Sometimes we get a lot of shipments in from the various other suppliers, including a lot of stores, including Metro Market. But having them out here, we’ve got an unbelievable amount of food from this kind of project.”
You can learn more about Middleton Meals Matter here.
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