Middle School Food Packaging Club continues to spread kindness

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant Middle School Food Packaging Club has had a busy semester lending a helping hand to the community. As the group continues to work toward their goal of raising funds for their food packaging event in the spring, the students also has been around town, raking leaves and washing windows.

The group, lead by teachers Kendra Ruschill and Jeremy Klopfenstein, set out at the beginning of the school year to spread kindness and do some good, and had the opportunity to help some local elderly residents get their house in order during their October club meeting.

Anneliese Sallee, a seventh-grader, helped wash windows at an apartment building.

'It was super fun … we also had to get it super precise and we got down in the crevices and stuff. And after we were done, some of us went down and washed the bus windows,” Sallee explained.

'The best part is being able to help the community and being a part of something good … I think it'll make other people want to help and then we can get even more good in the world,” Sallee continued.

The idea of inspiring kindness in others is an integral part of what Ruschill and Klopfenstein hope their students learn through the club. Students repeat, again and again, that 'kindness is a ripple effect” and that the good they do will be amplified if more people join in on their efforts.

In addition to raking leaves and washing windows, the group also helped assemble 48 cookie and brownie jars for Van Allen Elementary School's Kids Christmas Shopping event, held on Dec. 7.

'Hy-Vee donated all the materials … and I said it was really cool because Hy-Vee helped us, we helped Kids Christmas Shopping, it goes to the shopping and here you are giving these little kids the feeling of giving is so much better than getting. And when you can give that to a five or six-year-old, you've worked miracles … that's kind of hard to do in a little kid,” Ruschill said.

'Making the jars was a fun process, putting everything together and working as a group. Knowing that it's going to a good cause is really motivating,” Nayla Beauchamp, a seventh-grader said.

Beauchamp was also able to experience teaching younger kids the gift of giving when she, along with others from the club helped as elves during the shopping event. The middle schooler ended up helping an elementary school student purchase one of the cookie jars for their family.

'To help the kid buy one, it was really awesome to see that he was giving he knew it would make them happy … he had mentioned either his grandma or mom liked baking and I asked if she would enjoy making cookies and if he would enjoy making cookies with her,” Beauchamp explained.

For Beauchamp, being part of the club has not been what she's expected.

'We got to do a lot of community service and it feels good to give back to the community … I didn't expect all of this. I only expected selling T-shirts and donating to companies, not really the hands-on stuff where we got to work with kids and raking leaves … it's really nice to see the community is happy with the work we're doing,” she added.

'It's fun to have a group of kids, to have strength in numbers to start changing culture to consider other people and be kind,” Klopfenstein remarked.

'I think we live in a time where kindness is not normal. We're very kind of very self-centered and we need to start considering other people and their needs. These kids have that idea and finally have a venue to express it and share it, which will hopefully start to change our atmosphere and school climate,” Klopfenstein said of how he hopes the club will impact the school and local community.

'We want to show that we can, even in middle school, contribute to the community … There's how we can help in the school, how we can help in the community, how we help in our country and how we can help in the world,” Ruschill said about discussions the group has had on how they can help on a local and global scale.

'We want to, at some point in this year, help on all levels,” she added.

'This group definitely has the essence of the giving part, they have that in their heart. They really are excited about benefiting others and not themselves at all,” Ruschill added about the students in the club.

The Food Packaging Club will continue their fundraising efforts to reach their $15,000 goal and make the food packaging event a success. The group plans to sell T-shirts as well as continue volunteering to help the community. Any local residents who are interested in making a donation to the group or are in need of a group of middle schoolers for help with yardwork or other chores can contact Kendra Ruschill or Jeremy Klopfenstein at kendra.ruschill@mtpcsd.org and jeremy.klopfenstein@mtpcsd.org.