NEWS
One Person Can Make a Difference, A Big Difference
Owen Keible with just a portion of the food he collected for FeedNC.
School projects are often challenging for the parents and even the whole family, and not just the student tasked with preparing them. However, rarely do those challenges translate into something that has an impact across the wider community.
The bag and flyer that Owen delivered to nearly 250 homes in Davidson.
Owen Keible had a different idea, a BIG idea. He combined his interest addressing hunger in our region and a school service project at Piedmont IB Middle School. He prepared 250 bags with informative flyers attached. He and his parents delivered them to homes in and around the St. Alban’s neighborhood. The flyers asked neighbors to support his service project and to donate items like: cereal, canned food, pasta sauce, salsa, baking mixes, vegetable oil, and oatmeal/grits.
We asked Owen about his project, and this is our Q&A.
What gave you the idea to do this for your school project?
I had a lot of experience with other (volunteer) work at FeedNC, so when I had a project to do, they came to mind first!
Why was it important to do something to help our neighbors in need?
Not only is hunger a problem across the world, there’s another problem that affects everyone else. People just don’t get chances to help very often. I want to change that!
What was the most difficult part?
Collecting the groceries was tough work! I climbed a lot of steps that day and many of the bags were so full that they started to tear.
Will Keible and the FeedNC staff member who picked up the donations.
And the question everybody wants to know – how much food did you collect?
101 houses donated, with multiple bags from most houses. Nearly every inch of our garage was covered. It took us two days to sort all of the donations into categories.
Monday, January 29, FeedNC sent a van to pick up all the food that Owen collected. In the time between Owen collecting the food and the pick up, the numerous bags and boxes of food overwhelmed the Keible family’s home. Owen sorted all the food into basic groups to make it easier for FeedNC.
FeedNC stands for food, education, essentials, and dignity. Last year they moved into their new headquarters on Charlotte Highway in Mooresville. They were previously co-located with the Mooresville Soup Kitchen on South Broad Street. At the new location, their warehouse is roughly the size of the old location. The new location is also home to Donoghue’s Open Door restaurant, a facility open 5 days as week.