The day before Thanksgiving break, a group of Ponderosa Middle School leadership students spent their afternoon surrounded by canned goods, fresh potatoes, donated beef and frozen turkeys. With Thanksgiving approaching, the students helped assemble Thanksgiving food boxes, packages which will go to some of the school’s highest-need families.
The project came together through a collaboration of community partners and school staff. Staunton Farms donated bags of potatoes, Hartman Cattle provided beef, and the Ponderosa Parent-Teacher Organization contributed $500 to purchase the remaining items. Vice principal Katey Limb and school counselor Brittany Clark spent Wednesday afternoon at the grocery store, buying turkeys and all the fixings needed to build full meal boxes.
After contacting families privately and respectfully, the school prepared to distribute food boxes for 10 families, ultimately assembling 11 boxes for 12 households.
But on Thursday, the final step belonged to the students. Eighth graders Jude Johnson and Iris McCray helped organize ingredients and assemble the boxes alongside their classmates.
“It’s more of a pleasure for me to put stuff into a box and give it out for people to share as a family,” Johnson said. “It means a lot to me, and it’s actually (like) Capturing Kids’ Hearts what we are trying to do.”
For McCray, the experience carried a personal connection.
“I really like doing it because I remember during COVID, when my mom was pregnant with my littlest brother, we needed money, and we had to get food boxes from the churches,” McCray said. “So it’s really important for me to be able to give back because that’s what people did for me.”
Leadership students typically plan dances, spirit weeks, and school events. When Limb asked for student volunteers to help build the boxes, the response was immediate.
“Mr. (Kurt) Lonner told us on Tuesday in our web meeting that we would be able to help,” McCray said.
It was an opportunity McCray said she was grateful to take, knowing she will be moving to Virginia at the end of the school year. McCray has found joy in being involved in many activities while being a student at both Ponderosa and Eagle Ridge New Tech High School.
“I really wanted to get my last share of helping, because I want to be able to help as much as I can before I’m gone.”
For McCray, leadership extends beyond school. Through agriculture coursework, she’s learned to design products, sell them and build social skills.
“It’s practicing being able to cope with people saying no to you, and trying to change their mind without breaking down,” McCray said
Johnson said this type of service work aligns with the kind of leader he hopes to become.
Families picked up their food boxes at Ponderosa Friday.
“I hope to grow up to be a leader for people in the future,” Johnson said. “And I think we all grow up and hope that when we’re older. So yes, of course, I hope I’m a leader when I’m older. That is why we are here today, to help someone else who really needed it.”
