Ms. Maslon’s second-grade class crafted eco-friendly Valentine’s Grams with plantable seeds to sell and raised $350 for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Their elementary fundraiser was multifaceted, involving five classes ranging from kindergarten to 5th grade participating in making recycled paper hearts with seeds of hope.

The class also researched food waste and changemakers, including Dolores Huerta, an American labor leader and civil rights leader who, with Cesar Chavez, is a co-founder of the United Farmworkers Association, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers. 

The fundraiser was a point of conversation around food and nutrition insecurity with the young cohort. It deepened their understanding of the root causes of hunger and inspired their continued efforts by reading about trailblazers in the space. 

These young students took their newfound knowledge and passion and turned it into actionable steps to address food waste and hunger within their school. They helped implement protocols to ensure that uneaten fruit would be rescued for neighbors rather than thrown into landfills—another growing problem. 

This young group of changemakers and their teacher represent the spirit, empathy, compassion and passion that help fuel the work of the Food Bank and its partners across LA County, as so many neighbors need food and nutrition support. 

Ms. Maslon emphasized, “We chose to give to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank because of the percentage of money that actually goes to helping people locally.”

The Food Bank commends this group of inspiring students, their teacher and all those who helped support their fundraising efforts, which will have a positive ripple effect on the lives of their neighbors. 

This story reminds us that age is just a limit when it comes to wanting to make a difference in the same way that food and nutrition insecurity is indiscriminate regardless of age, background and socioeconomic status. 

Join Ms. Maslon, her second-grade students and the countless other hunger-relief advocates now while the need is still high and create your own fundraiser.