St. Vincents students 'pay it forward' to feed the hungry
By Sara Weikel, The Cottonwood/Holladay Journal (January 5, 2011)

Students at St. Vincent de Paul School donated funds and time to the Utah Food Bank.. Pictured from left are Caitlyn Walrath , Sam D'Antuono, Taylor Borg, Christina Winters, Robbie Brennan, Angelina Termunde, Xi Dorhofer, Saylor Soinski, Matthew Krump and Victor Herrera (against the wall).

Students at St. Vincent de Paul School tried something a bit different for their holiday charity this year. Instead of asking for donations to pass on to those in need, the students raised the funds themselves through their "Pay it Forward" program.

For Pay it Forward, the eighth grade class held a math night for the school in October. They played math games with younger students and sold dinners to the students' families, raising $780. They donated $400 of the proceeds to the Good Samaritan Project at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, which helps feed the hungry. The other $380 went to the Utah Food Bank, where the students also volunteered time sorting and packing food on Nov. 10.

"I knew that there were hungry people out there, but I didn't realize how many people needed help," said one of the eighth graders, Valeria.

According to the food bank website, Utah has the nation's fourth highest rate of food insecurity--meaning people at risk of missing at least one meal per day--a total of about 350,000 Utahns. One in 10 Utahns live in poverty, including one in eight children, and 40 percent of Utah's children qualify for free or reduced-price lunches at school.

Teaching students to help those less fortunate by meeting their basic needs like food is important to St. Vincents School, Principal Mark Longe said.

"We try to instill this in kids at a very young age, and all through the school," he said. "It's just part of who we are as Christians, and who we're called to be."

The eighth grade students decided on their own to make this year's service project a local one. Local service is particularly important for children their age to do because it is more tangible for them to see and help fix problems in their own communities, eighth grade teacher Deborah Ferree said. Helping people in faraway places is also good, but tends to be less real to students because the only evidence they'll ever see of the difference they made is through a few photos

"It was a great eye-opener, and made me realize that I am really lucky and blessed," said another student, Noah.

Although the Pay it Forward program was new to the eighth graders this year, the school's second grade started doing holiday charities this way last year.

Photo courtesy of The Cottonwood/Holladay Journal