Food donations pour in from Rock Creek students ahead of Thanksgiving, holiday season

Nov. 19—SOUTHERN INDIANA — Thanksgiving's just a few days away and groups across the region are working to make sure no one goes hungry and that local youth know the positive impact they can have on people in need.

Students at Sellersburg's Rock Creek Community Academy showed up in a huge way for their neighbors across Southern Indiana and collected 4,860 food items as part of the school's annual spirit week.

The food will go to help local nonprofits like Hope Southern Indiana. Another youth-led group, Miles for Merry Miracles, is also helping with holiday donations.

Rock Creek Community Academy focuses on character-building and as part of spirit week, students are asked to think about others by donating canned and other foods to those in need.

"Our school is divided into houses, and we have a house competition," said Dean of Students Jennifer Brown. "And they hear me say every single day, 'What is the most important part of spirit week?' And it's the canned food drive."

As of early Friday morning about 3,000 items had been donated, but by the time representatives from Hope Southern Indiana and Miles For Merry Miracles arrived, the contributions soared.

"We had parents out here with dollies and stacks of cans this morning," Brown said.

That's important, because Hope Southern Indiana Executive Director Angela Graf is already seeing a huge influx in need for meals this holiday season.

"The need is up significantly," Graf said. "We have have over 400 Thanksgiving baskets we are giving out next week. When we started purchasing food as well this year, it's just a lot higher (in price), just to buy. Stuffing, gravy mix, every single thing, even bread, went up."

That's why the donations from Rock Creek students were so important, because they consisted of items that are needed, like pasta, stuffing and more.

Graf said there's still a need for food, especially as Christmas approaches, and donations are welcome.

"(We are in need of) stuffing mix, instant mashed potatoes," Graf said. "Cranberries are a big, big need, they're kind of expensive."

Any kind of desert or cake mix is requested as well. Families get gift cards to purchase fresh turkeys for their meals. Although pre-packed meals for Thanksgiving are already spoken for, Graf said people can come to their pantry to see what they have available ahead of Thanksgiving.

Graf said it's important for the students to see the impact they can have on other people through their food donations.

"As they grow into adults, they're taking all that knowledge and compassion that they're taught over the years for people they don't even know or see," Graf said. "It's amazing."

That's one of the reasons Miles For Merry Miracles is so involved with holiday help across the region, from gathering food supplies like they did on Friday, to holiday shopping events for those in need.

Youth are invited to take part in the organization that aims at giving young people the chance to lead charity events.

"Miles is very big in helping the youth, by showing them what's happening in the community," said Miles For Merry Miracles Youth Leadership President Hailey Barrett. "Miles has partnered with Hope Southern Indiana. We always try to take a trip down to see what they need, and we've also done food donations with Hope Southern Indiana."

Miles for Merry Miracles is also preparing for its annual holiday shopping event for Angel Tree families in the region.

Barrett said it's easy for students to get involved with the nonprofit and that they can visit https://m4mm.org/ to sign-up.

Earlier this week, the group took part in the Cadella's Favorite Things event, where 14 Southern Indiana businesses banded together to help local nonprofits. Volunteers with Miles for Merry Miracles served as elves during the event and surprised 100 people with gifts from participating businesses.

"Just when we thought life couldn't be any sweeter Lori Unruh and her team at Cadella's surprised not only Miles for Merry Miracles(M4MM) but also Shop with a Cop and the Shamrock Foundation with an amazing opportunity. Now M4MM gets to serve up joy this Christmas to nearly 300 kids in our community" said Program Director of Miles for Merry Miracles Teresa Hebert.