When the conveyor belt starts running so did the Ojai Valley High schoolers. On Martin Luther King Jr. day, OVS students spent the morning giving back to the community by having a day of service.
High school students split into nine groups to do service projects including beach cleanup, natural habitat restoration and Food Share.
Fourteen students spent the day sorting and packing food at Ventura County’s Food Share. Food Share is a member of Feeding America and has provided over 1.5 million meals in the last month.There are 267,000 people a year who struggle to put food on the table and are aided by Food Share
Students sorted donated food, checking expirations dates and sorting into boxes by category. These boxes were then sealed and labeled and separated so they could be distributed.
OVS senior Vlada Antipkina said it felt great to give back to a community that has helped her.
“Although I’ve never personally worried about not having food, it was a very rewarding experience to help those in need and know I made a difference,” said Vlada, who spent her time at the conveyor belts sorting and packaging food.
This isn’t the first time OVS has helped Food Share. Twice earlier this school year, groups of volunteers sorted hundreds of pounds of produce.
Diversity and inclusion representative Donahi Soriano was on the Food Share crew and was grateful to have this opportunity to give back.
“At the end of the day I was grateful to be able to have this opportunity,” Donahi said. “That’s one thing I love about OVS we are constantly giving back to the community that give so much to us.”