Braves Give Back

Indian Hill High School students help feed 4,000 students and their families;

Indian Hill Primary & Elementary School students collect 5,650 food items for donation

The numbers make a statement of both need and generosity: 3,400 pounds of food purchased to donate to 4,000 students and their families at 11 Cincinnati-area schools by around 600 Indian Hill High School (IHHS) students. Tuesday, November 13 – just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday – the donation drive was a coordinated effort between 46 classrooms through several IHHS organizations: DECA, Kids Feed Club, and Student Government.

Indian Hill High School students organized a donation of 3,400 pounds of food to give to 4,000 students and their families Tuesday, November 13, 2018.

“Students helping students – that is what this project is all about; the donations go to schools that have high rates of free and reduced lunch, so these donations can help sustain these children and their families when they are on the holiday break,” said IHHS Teacher Anne Kuhn.

Students are raising money to purchase the food to donate, and students delivered the donations to schools themselves. Donations aren’t limited to holiday breaks. Each month, IHHS students with the Kids Feed Club spend one Sunday packing 500 bags of food to distribute to students in need, as coordinated by Cincinnati’s Childhood Food Solutions.

“This is part of who we are as a Brave Family,” said IHHS Principal Jeff Damadeo. “Service learning is core to our instructional practices within Indian Hill High School; we prepare our students to understand and prosper in a diverse global community to successfully lead, engage, and serve others. Last school year, 643 IHHS Braves volunteered more than 40,500 hours.”

“This is a different type of learning for our students,” said Kuhn. “There is a sense of excitement for our Braves – knowing they are working to help make a situation better for another family … and that we are all working at the same time for the same goal. Even though they may never meet the students who will receive these bags, they are connected to those who they are serving.”

The food collections for donation didn’t end with the High School. Students at Indian Hill Primary School and Indian Hill Elementary School collected a combined 5,650 items for donation to Inter Parish Ministry Food Pantry, and Symmes Township Fire & Rescue respectively. Both schools hosted sharing assemblies for Braves Tuesday, November 20. Indian Hill Middle School is planning to work with Magnified Giving on a food collection drive during December.