Decorah High School students and staff donated a record amount of money for the Decorah Community Food Pantry. A grand total of $4252.22 was collected, well over $800 more than last year. 

To prepare for the money drive, members of FFA and Community Club recently met with Food Pantry Director Matt Tapscott on a Saturday morning to discuss the program and offer some help. After learning more about the pantry, students stocked shelves, cleaned freezers and carts, vacuumed, and other tasks. It was an excellent kick off to the food drive; the students came away with a better understanding of the pantry and its needs. One statistic stood out to them: the number of clients who use the pantry has doubled since January, and out of the 46,440 food insecure people living in northeast Iowa, 14,500 of them are children.

FFA member Kyleigh Batterson remarked, “It was wonderful to see our school come together to help out our community. I am thankful for all the opportunities we had this year to further understand food insecurities in our community and act upon them.”