Friday, January 24, 2025
East Meadow High School’s athletes learned about the importance of giving back earlier this month, thanks to a partnership with the Million Meal Project, a hunger-fighting nonprofit organization that launched in Edgemont, New York in 2022.
In East Meadow, some of the high school’s athletes are part of a group “Athletes Helping Athletes,” which is sanctioned by the state. It is a mentorship program that pairs student athletes with younger students to promote leadership, sportsmanship and positive role modeling. The initiative often involves high school athletes serving as mentors to younger students, teaching them about teamwork, goal-setting and the importance of character both on and off the field.
Rachel Barry, East Meadow High School’s chair for physical education and health, said its chapter’s members are invited to join based on a referral from their coach. Students have to be in tenth-grade, so the group is comprised of sophomores, juniors and seniors.
“They have to participate in at least one season of athletics,” Barry said, “and typically, they are like our best leaders.”
The group delves into a lot of different areas, Barry said. Its members spend time with sixth-grade students in Woodland Middle School, covering different topics like preventing vaping or talking about bullying. The group also hosts students from the Rosemary Kennedy School for a field day, a Nassau BOCES school designed for students with moderate to severe developmental disabilities.
“They definitely get involved in a lot of stuff,” Barry said of the group’s members. “They are your best kids — so they are involved in everything.”
Barry said the school is always open to new ideas, and this year, Callia Chung, who’s on the varsity cheer team, brought the Million Meal Project to her attention. The nonprofit is a global partner of Rise Against Hunger and other organizations that fight food insecurity, and hosts meal packaging events, where food donations are assembled for distribution to those in need. It welcomes any local organizations — like Athletes Helping Athletes — to participate by co-hosting events throughout the year, and Chung asked if East Meadow’s athletes could help its efforts.
Barry reached out to the nonprofit, set up a Zoom meeting, and eventually nailed down a date for a meal packaging event — Nov. 16. 100 volunteers, mostly student athletes, worked in the gym for around two-hours, packing thousands of meals for those in need.
“The concept of this event is they bring all the supplies, and we bring all the people to pack the meals,” Barry said. “It’s not necessarily a Thanksgiving-based event, it’s that time of year, but the Million Meal Project works throughout the entire school year.”
On dozens of folding tables throughout East Meadow High School’s gymnasium, student athletes packed food, before transporting the packages out to a truck.
The Million Meal Project’s goal in 2022 was to package 1 million meals for Rise Against Hunger — an organization that combats hunger around the world — by 2028. “Our work to end hunger starts with a meal,” Richard Kearny, the chief executive of the organization said in a 2022 news release posted on the Million Meal Project’s website. “For those facing hunger, a meal can provide much needed nutrition, support education, health and opportunities for bright futures.”
For more on the Million Meal Project, visit MillionMealProject.org.
