Students pack 20,000 meals to send to hospital in Haiti

Students packing 20K meals for those in need

FOX 13's Kailey Tracy reports.

SEMINOLE, Fla. - On Friday, students at Richard O. Jacobson Technical High School packed 20,000 dry meals to send to a hospital in Haiti.

It’s part of their service project for the group Rise Against Hunger. The school’s Interact Club partnered with the Rotary Club of Indian Rocks Beach for the project. The Rotary funded most of the meals. Students also contributed through on-campus fundraisers.

What they're saying:

"We think about everything that's going on in the world," Vernon Bryant, the Youth Coordinator with the Rotary Club, said. "There are natural disasters. There are wars and those kind of things, and these kind of meals are so important to supporting people around the world that don't have it as good as we have it, and so again, to show the students and to connect them to something beyond their world," he said.

Rise Against Hunger supplied the materials for the packing event. 

"It’s an amazing morning," Principal Josh Wolfenden said. "Our students are working hard."

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"It’s an awesome opportunity for our students to just give thanks for what they have and to give back to our community," Wolfenden said.

Dig deeper:

Wolfenden said the school has partnered with the Rotary of Indian Rocks Beach for several years. Last year, they built 50 bunk beds for kids in need in the community in Pinellas County along with the group Sleep in Heavenly Peace. 

"It really means a lot to us that we're able to not only help our community, but communities that are way across the seas that we might not see the impact, but we know that they are going to have a huge impact," student Isabelle Schuler, the Interact Club President, said.