Millard South High School DECA team creates food pantry starter kits for other Millard area schools

MILLARD, Neb. (KMTV) — What started out as a public relations project turned into a passion project for one DECA team at Millard South High School. Three seniors are hoping to make a difference in their community by helping those in need have access to food and hygiene products called, “Feeding Millard”.

"So many people are in need that we don't even know about,” said Millard South High School senior, Maddie Fleming. For the past two years Millard South has provided food and hygiene products to about 40 families in need per week through the Patriot Pantry.

A few months ago, three Millard South High School senior DECA members decided to provide those services to others in the Millard community as part of a public relations project. “A lot of people think that they don't have poverty, they don't have problems, people always have money, that's not true, we do have poverty, we do have kids that need food,” said Millard South High School senior, Alexis Novak.

Kiewit, Beadle, Russell and Central Middle Schools along with Holling Heights Elementary received starter kits from Millard South to create their own food pantries. "We have canned goods, boxed items, hygiene products, perishables,” said Millard South High School senior, Abby Bonnstetter. And a business plan to keep them open long after these seniors graduate. "We know we're leaving and we know we can't run it forever, but we do want it to keep going, so it feels great to leave something behind that was beneficial for people,” said Novak.

And they are grateful to be making a difference, one canned item, “a lot of kids go home, and their last meal was lunch, so they don't get dinner and their next meal will be lunch the next day,” said Fleming. And family at a time. “It's not just oh we did this for a project, it's oh we did this for our community,” said Bonnstetter, “we wanna be able to have these pantries open over weekends, breaks, holidays, some are even planning on being open all throughout the summer, so people can come at all times."

Find the closest school pantry to your location:
Millard South High School
14905 Q St.
(402) 715-8268
Kiewit Middle School
15650 Howard St.
(402) 715-1470
Beadle Middle School
18201 Jefferson St.
(402) 715-6100
Russell Middle School
5304 S. 172^nd St.
(402) 715-8500
Central Middle School
12801 L St.
(402) 715-8225
Holling Heights Elementary School
6565 S. 136^th St.
(402) 715-8330