Food4U Brings Food to Students in Need

Hunger is a serious problem for many people around the world, and the United States is no different. Some children in America only get one meal a day instead of three, and only get that in the form of a school lunch.

Gary Greenwood is an Economic and Personal Finance teacher at FCHS, as well as the coordinator of Extended Ed. Yet he is also someone with personal experience in wondering where his next meal will come from, having lived in his car for a time.  That is when he learned that it is important to ask for help. “My first job was in a restaurant, and I’d ask if I could take home the scraps, because I had very little. But I asked for help,” said Greenwood.

Originally, Greenwood was able to supply food to needy students from the elementary schools and the middle school. However, this service was ultimately reduced to operate exclusively out of the elementary school.

In order to help out not just the elementary students, but the middle and high schoolers too, Food4U was created.

Using Food Lion holiday donation boxes, as well as a donation of $2000 worth of food directly from Food Lion, Food4U is able to supply and feed students in need at each and every school in Fluvanna County.

The service is strictly donation-based, and is currently running off of the donation provided by Food Lion. Community donations are both welcomed and encouraged, with snack foods being specifically requested so that students don’t ever have to be hungry.

Greenwood’s main goal for the organization is to supply a consistent supply of food, year-round, unlike other programs of the same variety. “A lot of these [food] organizations will do holiday drives. But when the holiday is over? Kids are still hungry,” said Greenwood.

He emphasized that he knows there are more students in the high school who are going hungry and could benefit from the program. “I see their siblings in the elementary and the middle school, so I know they are in the high school. But they need to ask for help,” said Greenwood, who noted that students simply need to go to his room to get the free food. He added that they can take it away in a bag before getting on the bus after school, so other students don’t need to know that they are in need.

For more information, or to get yourself involved in the program, visit Greenwood in room 4606, or contact a teacher to get you connected.