Notre Dame juniors Megan Berghoff and Brooklyn Gosche have qualified for FCCLA nationals with their project, Kids Feeding Kids.

FCCLA, short for Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, is a student-led integrated curriculum organization. FCCLA’s mission is to promote personal growth, leadership development, creative and critical thinking, interpersonal communication, practical knowledge and career preparation.

A big focus area for Notre Dame’s FCCLA organization is community service projects. “In addition to introducing Kids Feeding Kids this year, we have sewn NICU hearts, sewn burp cloths for Birthright, and made plarn mats for the homeless in the area, just as a few examples,” said Notre Dame FCCLA advisor Amy Neal.

Neal was introduced to the Kids Feeding Kids project at the FCCLA Fall Leadership Conference. She was at an advisor round table and was introduced to Diane Mora, education and program director for the Kids Feeding Kids organization.

“Diane told me about Kids Feeding Kids and I thought it sounded amazing,” said Neal. “I texted school administration right away saying we needed to meet to discuss this project coming to Notre Dame. I offered the project to any student, and Brooklyn, who was in my Foods class at the time, said she would love to be in charge of it. She and Megan are good friends, so they formed a group to complete the project.”

Kids Feeding Kids is a non-profit focused on engaging students in preparing take-home meals for families in their communities. The program provides teachers with a standards-based food justice and culinary curriculum focused on increasing food access, reducing food insecurity, and raising awareness around the social and environmental impacts of food waste. The organization is sponsored by several groups, including Patrick Mahomes’ 15 and the Mahomies Foundation.

Mora goes to schools, mainly in the Kansas City area, and leads students in meal preparation. Together, Mora, Neal, Berghoff and Gosche agreed to tackle the monumental task of 1,000 meals in one week, which would be the highest number of meals ever produced by a participating school.

With the help of Notre Dame students, faculty and community members, they cooked in bulk making 1,000 meals of stir fry, packaging them according to health standards, and handing them out to those in need in the Cape Girardeau area during Catholic Schools Week in February.

“It was a little stressful at first,” said Gosche. “But once we got everyone put into stations and everything organized, it went very smoothly. It was amazing to see how much work we accomplished in so little time.”

“It was overwhelming at first, but Diane was there to guide us with proper cooking techniques in bulk,” added Berghoff. “She informed us more about food insecurity around Missouri and in our community.”

Neal said the Kids Feeding Kids project provided a great hands-on experience for Berghoff, Gosche, and her students that participated in the project.

“I think you really get to put it into perspective when you actually get to interact with the people receiving meals,” said Neal. “Most of the people we interacted with were in vehicles, except one man who came through on his bike that had no seat and all his belongings in a backpack. Everyone else would open their trunks so we could put food in, but he did not have that option so students stuffed as many food containers as they could in his backpack. He was very grateful for the meals cooked by our students. Nothing felt better than that!”

Once the project was complete, Berghoff and Gosche set off to share their work at FCCLA competitions. The duo competed at regionals, and then took second place at the state competition in the National Programs in Action category to qualify for nationals. Their project was also featured in the FCCLA national spotlight.

Berghoff said this project has “grown her leadership and community service skills” and empowered her to educate others about food insecurity. She has also become more comfortable presenting to large groups.

Gosche echoed that saying the experience has given her the opportunity to open up and feel more confident in herself when public speaking.

Berghoff, Gosche and Neal will be heading to Seattle, Washington, in June to present the project.

“I’m really looking forward to spreading the word about Kids Feeding Kids,” said Gosche. “I really want to let other schools know that they can participate in this program and have the opportunity to help their communities.”

These students are actively fundraising to afford their trip to nationals. If you are interested in helping them share their project on a national level, please consider donating to their cause at www.notredamehighschool.org/donate, or by contacting Amy Neal at amyneal@notredamecape.org.