On Saturday, October 29, forty FHS students cooked meals in the FHS kitchen for the Holy Redeemer Outreach Pantry, a local pantry that supports hundreds of people in Freeport.
Under the direction of FHS faculty members Jeff Glass and Josh Levitt, the students cooked and packaged 130 meals, with each meal feeding two to four people. The menu included beans and rice, chicken with rice and vegetables, ziti and meatballs, pupusa, eggplant, macaroni and cheese, and brownies. FHS cook Maxie Marine and her mother Benita provided expert guidance and endless support. Head custodian Joel Destil, along with custodian Pedro Burgess, lent a willing and helping hand in the kitchen.
Alfonso Martinez, director of the food pantry and outreach activities at Holy Redeemer Church, said, "Freeport High School has become a wonderful partner for us in helping so many families in our community. Jeff Glass has organized community food and clothing drives and daily milk collections. Jeff and Josh Levitt and the terrific students at the high school always seem to come through in our greatest time of need. The timing of this event was outstanding, as we were low on food. So many of our families will now benefit from the efforts of the FHS students."
"It is very important to have our students involved in community service activities in Freeport-this has been a central focus of Student Government," said Josh, who is a Student Government faculty advisor. Jeff Glass, the faculty advisor for the Gay-Straight Alliance and a sponsor of many community service activities at FHS, added, "[This event] gave our students a hands-on understanding of how helping others can be mutually rewarding and, frankly, lots of fun. The spirit in the kitchen was amazing-it was an intergenerational group that worked in harmony to help our neighbors in Freeport. This was a perfect coming together of our community, our school and our mission to support each other as citizens of Freeport."
