YHS Sophomore Fights Hunger in Kendall County, Across the Globe

Nearly 500 students and faculty members at Yorkville High School worked together last month to battle hunger in Kendall County and the world.

On April 14, these volunteers packed 36,000 meals that were delivered to the , meals that they had paid for through a series of fund-raisers held throughout the school year.

A national charity then matched the local students' efforts, sending an additional 36,000 meals to Japan and Haiti, two countries still suffering from the aftermath of natural disasters.

And the reason for all this? Savanah Sellars, a sophomore at Yorkville High School.

Sellars had heard about the Food Fight organization at her church. She learned that this group, formed and run entirely by students at high schools in Chicago's western suburbs, had packed more than 622,352 meals and raised more than $80,000 to fight worldwide hunger.

Sellars wanted to make a difference, too. So she led the Food Fight efforts at Yorkville High School, spearheading such fund-raising effort as t-shirt sales, dodgeball tournaments and sweatpant sales to raise enough money to buy the meal ingredients from ImpactLives, a charity based in Maple Grove, Minn.

Once she had secured enough funds, Sellars recruited an army of volunteers to pack the food at the high school.

"I had been praying to God to give me some direction to help spread His word," Sellars said. "I wanted to do something in His name. This came before me. It was there. And it was something I was able to take on."

Aimee Tercs, a teacher at Yorkville High School and the Key Club faculty advisor, worked with Sellars on organizing the Food Fight project. Tercs praised Sellars' work and credited the school administration and student council for supporting their efforts.

Tercs said that the coordinator from ImpactLives was so impressed with the students' organization and teamwork that not only did she agree to donate all of the meals packed at the high school to the Kendall County Food Pantry, but she also matched this donation with another 36,000 meals to be shipped worldwide.

"What that means is that Yorkville students were responsible for the donation of an astounding 72,000 meals to hungry people all over the world," Tercs said.

This year, students at Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie, Metea Valley, Yorkville, Naperville Central and Naperville North high schools participated in the Food Fight effort.

Sellars says that she plans to run the Food Fight program at Yorkville High School again next year.

"I prepared for this the best that I could," Sellars said. "I had hoped it would be successful, but I knew that success wasn't guaranteed. I was very excited when everything came together the way it did."