High School Students Help the Hungry

Biotechnology High School is an International Baccalaureate school in Freehold, New Jersey. The IB curriculum encourages students to help out in the community and challenge themselves to learn new things. I thought it would be a great thing to learn how to cook, and then cook a meal on my own and serve it to the homeless. I got a group of students from BTHS together, and we all joined in on this project. The other participating Biotech students (also all Juniors) were Andrew Mulderrig, Sean Hammond, John Redding, Gregory Mak, and Kevin Hom. The meals were impressive and included chicken fajitas, pepper steak, rice and beans, meatballs, and ziti. We also each made our own desserts including apple tarts, pumpkin pie, cupcakes, cookies, and muffins. I found out about a great organization called “Feed All God’s Children,” run by the very dedicated Jim Benedict. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 11:30 A.M. to 1 P.M., he and his volunteers serve a hot meal in the soup kitchen at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at 31 Throckmorton Street in Freehold, NJ. The original plan was for us to serve our meal here on Thursday, November 8th. However, the winter storm, after Hurricane Sandy, left the Church without power and many of us as well. None of us wanted all this food to go to waste, so we made a quick change of plans. We all trekked through the snow and cold and met Jim at the powerless Church, where we loaded his truck. He took our food to Tent City, a group of tent homes where people live year round in Ocean County. I couldn’t believe it when Jim told me there were over 250 people in Monmouth and Ocean Counties living like this, in tents, all the time. He said they would be grateful for our home cooked, hot meal. They also desperately need donations of coats, hats, socks, gloves, and blankets as it can get pretty cold in those tents. Jim is available at the St Peter’s Church on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10am to 1pm to take these donations, and can be reached at (732) 299-8603 or by email at feedgodschildren@aol.com. The organization also has a web page, feedallgodschildren.org, and is a great charity to help out all year long.