Wentzville Schools Collect 14 Tons of Food for Operation Food Search

(The following press release was submitted by the Wentzville School District.)

Nine schools in the Wentzville School District have held food drives so far this school year to help stock the shelves at Operation Food Search (OFS). As a group, these schools have collected more than 14 tons of food items to help needy local families.

Frontier Middle School and their Student Council led the way again this year by collecting over 13,000 individual items and raising over $2,000. Frontier 8th grader Nicholas Raphael has taken part in the project for the past three years. “We get the whole school involved in the donations because we all like to help out those in need in the local area. We have a healthy competition among the different teams each year to see who can collect the most items. We all do a lot, it’s a good thing!”

Other District schools participating in food drives include Boone Trail, Crossroads, Discovery Ridge, Duello, Green Tree, Lakeview, Prairie View, and South Middle.

“The students really do a remarkable job with their food drives, and the teachers and staff really support them in their efforts,” said Karen Gladieux, Community Relations Director for OFS. “This is really going to have a huge impact in our community to help put food on the table for those that are less fortunate.”

OFS also helps the District with Operation Backpack, a program that sends food home in the backpacks of almost 400 needy students every week. Holt High School conducted a “backpack food drive” and collected over 400 pounds of food for the program, and the Wentzville Child Nutrition Department also collected 200 pounds of food and over $600 to support Operation Backpack.

Each month, OFS distributes more than two million pounds of food and household items to more than 250 food pantries and homeless shelters in the bi-state region. These agencies feed more than 150,000 people, and nearly half of those recipients are children.