In the shadow of malnutrition concerns in America, Southern Lehigh welcomes a new club: Athletes Against Hunger. This group, organized by sophomore Ellie Kane, plans to hold food drives at the school’s athletic events and distribute what they collect to local food pantries.
“I created this club so I could help bring food to people who needed it,” Kane said. “I think hunger is an important issue to solve because many people in America and all over the world face it.”
As Kane claims, malnutrition is a pressing issue in America. Organizations such as Feeding America report that one in eight children in Pennsylvania face hunger. To help address this, the club will use some of the high school’s athletic events as a platform to reach community members. Kane feels that setting up food drives in such public venues makes donating more accessible and therefore more appealing for the spectators.
Kane’s brothers, Southern Lehigh graduates Alex (‘22) and Will (‘23), held food drives at athletic events in the past, but never chose to turn it into a club. Ellie followed their example last year, but decided to take the next step.
“This year, I decided to organize a Spartan Period for the club so we could reach more people and get as much food as possible,” Kane says. “Last year, I [collected food] by contacting the teams individually, and one of my parents and I would drive it over to the food pantries. That was really all the ‘club’ could do last year, to make sure that the food got to the places it needed to go.”
Through this effort, she raised about 30 boxes of donated food. Kane hopes that she’ll be able to top her numbers this year with the help of new club members. Members of Athletes Against Hunger feel that this is a very important goal to pursue.
“It’s something that is not talked about enough—hunger and everything,” sophomore club vice president Elizabeth Abramovich says, “so my being able to contribute as an athlete is something that is important to me.”
Junior Janvi Patel, another member of the club, agrees that Athletes Against Hunger is an opportunity she needed to be active in helping her community.
“I like the fundraising and being out volunteering,” Patel says, “and I wanted to do something outside of school.”
The club will be present at many Southern Lehigh High School sporting events, and will accept any sort of food donation, as well as monetary contributions. Everything collected will be given to local food banks, including Betty Lou’s Pantry right in Coopersburg. Kane invites others to work with the club, even if they are not athletes themselves or were unable to join the in-school Spartan Period meeting.
“If students would like to help the cause, they can either reach out to me and I can add them to the Google Classroom, or they can bring food and money to sporting events to donate,” Kane says. “We all need food to live, so this is an issue we should all care about.”
