#Lunchbag helps those in need after the holidays, SCA sponsored annual event

Samantha Radford, Editor-in-Chief • January 4, 2024

SCA AND #LUNCHBAG volunteers pack lunch bags for local food shelters. With a total of 815 bags made, hundreds of families will be provided with food after the holidays.

The Student Council Association (SCA) annual #lunchbag event is a gathering of clubs, organizations, and teams throughout the school that assemble bagged lunches for people experiencing food insecurity after the holidays. This year’s event occurred on Wednesday, January 17, after school in the cafeteria.

Former SCA sponsor Sabrina Shumate took the lead on this event to help out current SCA sponsors Ms. Bellissimo and Mrs. Morgan.

According to Shumate, the competitive, assembly-line-styled food donations started in 2016 when alumni Charlie Prince from SCA and Kathy Degner from Key Club wanted to complete a joint project. After seeing a commercial from #HashtagLunchbag, which runs #Lunchbag nationally, Shumate met with both students, and they agreed to hold the event at CHS for the first time. With a goal of 100 lunch bags the first year, it was easily surpassed.

Now SCA, along with multiple organizations volunteer to stay after school and donate different items to the community.

“#Lunchbag is an annual event that athletes and organizations can get tables for and then form an assembly line to achieve our goal in less than 30 minutes,” Shumate said.

Items for the lunch bags are donated by a variety of different clubs and athletics and are then made in an assembly line fashion to be sent to a variety of different ministries, compared to in previous years being donated only to PIN ministries.

“PIN ministries are who we have partnered with in the past, but this year we are trying to spread out the love to various ministries to make sure as many people in need receive a meal,” Morgan said.

Lunch bags typically include a sandwich, a piece of fruit, chips, water, and a positive, inspirational note. With a goal of 800 sandwiches, it was easily surpassed with a total of 815 sandwiches made for those in need.

SCA was then able to donate the lunch bags to the Church of Ascension, JCOC, and Cooke Elementary, as well as local police precincts. Extra food items were then donated to the food pantry at the Church of Ascension, which serves the Virginia Beach and Norfolk communities.

“#Lunchbag is a competitive way to help out the community and it is fun, ” SCA vice president and junior Leena Harkins said.