Meet the 2020 Stephen J. Brady Stop Hunger Scholars Hi, I'm Caleb Oh. I'm William Winslow. I'm Noah Zimmer. I'm Carson Pazdan. Hello, I'm Annika Kovar. Let's stop hunger together. Let's stop hunger together. [Both] Together. We build school pantries. We run food drives. We build school gardens. We partner with others to make an even bigger impact. We bring people and organizations together to make an even bigger difference. I actually started doing hunger fighting when I was in grade school. I started out doing Feed My Starving Children. After that, when I was age 14, I started my own charity called, Little Sprouts Garden Gang. Kids Feeding Kids is a hunger project I started when I was five years old. Now we're doing two food drives yearly. In the fall we have, what's called, the We Scare Hunger event. And then in the spring we have, the Food Drive Thru. I tried volunteering at a soup kitchen and food pantry in my community and they said I was too young. So I created my own organization, Kid Changemakers. When I was in first grade we started a food drive, we raise about 1,400 pounds of food. As that grew and grew each year, we started building food gardens at schools in high-need areas so that people could have fresh fruits and vegetables. Meat Hunger is a buyers group at our local fair auction, where 4-H-ers will put their animals up for the livestock auction. Then the meat and protein that we receive goes to the food bank of northern Indiana. We can't wait. We can't wait. We can't wait for someone else to solve the problem. Your small actions Can make a big difference. This type of work started when I was in fourth grade and it started small. Overtime, these projects grew. I started school-wide lunch packing initiatives and then it grew to collecting food and toiletries for women's shelters and other causes. With my Little Sprouts Garden Gang, I have over 250 Garden Gangs in all 50 states and three provinces of Canada. As soon as more people starting getting involved with it, it just grew. We were looking for new projects to do and we came across this that we built two of them and we placed them at the churches in high-need areas. We can stock it mostly. Some people come down and will also put some food in there and donate. But it's more like a take what you need, give what you can kind of thing. Meat Hunger was way more successful than we thought it would be in it's first year. Over the two years that this thing has been active, we've been able to raise 18 tons of meat and also two tons of non-perishable food items. A total of about 72,000 servings. Throughout the year I usually go in to an elementary school around two to three times a year to talk to the kids about upcoming fundraisers and about making a difference and helping others. And then we usually have two huge food drives. Parents drive in front of elementary schools and drop off groceries and food donations, which then in-turn, feeds people locally here in the Cuba Township. Every little bit that each of us does Adds up. Your small actions Your small actions Your small actions can make a big difference. Any small impact on anyone can really just butterfly effect into something big. Getting other people to volunteer has been, probably, the biggest drive for me. It makes me feel really good that I'm making a difference and it's very satisfying to know that you've helped someone. What's especially kept me going and has inspired me continually is, seeing how this impacts people who then in-turn, want to help the same way that I am. Anyone can definitely help. Once you drop one stone in, it creates a ripple effect. But if we all drop stones in, it'll make a splash. [All] Let's stop hunger together. If I can do it, so can you. If I can do it, so can you. If I can do it, so can you. If I can do it, so can you. If I can do this, so can you.

• published: 20 Jul 2020
• views: 1347