Benton’s pro-start class comes together to serve nutritious meals to the community
Prajukta Ghosh
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — Benton High School students spent their Friday giving back in a big way. As part of their ProStart advanced cooking class, they packed up meals for families and community members who could use a little extra support.
The project was done in partnership with a Kansas City–based agency called Feeding Kids, which works closely with Pete’s Garden—a program that collects unused food from restaurants, where it would otherwise be thrown out and puts it toward feeding local families.
Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher Annie Meyers said the opportunity gives students hands-on experience making nutritious meals and ensures those meals reach community members who really need them.
“Kids in the class are graded of being a part of it because it is a lot of work, but they are not graded on how the food turns out necessarily,” Meyers said.
By the end of the day, students had prepared 250 servings—about three servings in each container—for a total of roughly 80 meal containers.
Meyers said her biggest hope is to make sure people who truly need a healthy meal can get one, while giving her students the chance to experience the joy of helping others and making their community stronger.
To get the word out, the class sent fliers through Benton’s ParentSquare and reached out to Hosea and Hyde elementaries and Spring Garden Middle School
“We just told families that between 3:30 and 6 (p.m.), they can just come to the back parking lot and we will bring meals to their car,” Meyers added.
One senior helping with the project said she and her classmates have been preparing meals since Tuesday.
Kristel Solis said she wanted to be involved not just for the class, but because she understands what it feels like to not always have access to nutritious food.
“I do want to help. I want to do this for the class but also because I want to help other since I know what it’s like to not have food,” Solis said.
Students in the class each took on different tasks — from prepping ingredients to packaging — and worked together to make sure everything came together smoothly.
Solis said they’ve put in a lot of effort and hope the families who receive the meals are happy with what they take home.
“This is my first time doing it, and it’s been good. It’s really fun to work with everyone here and we like to talk with each other and joke about stuff,” Solis said.
Both Meyers and her students said they want to continue supporting families in the community, especially after learning more about food insecurity in class.