More than 460 elementary and middle school students from Boca Raton Christian School in Florida participated on Thursday (10th) in a volunteer effort to prepare and package 20,000 meals destined for families in need in South Florida and Bangladesh. Initially, the students had set a goal of preparing 10,000 meals, but with community support, the initial projection was doubled. The action was part of the "Hands + Feet Project," a two-day initiative that combines community service with mission trips undertaken by the school.
The prepared meals were distributed locally by the organization Boca Helping Hands and also sent internationally to serve children and families in Bangladesh. According to Marne MacPhee, the school's director of development, these are refugee children and families who are being rescued from human trafficking and starting over from scratch. "This is the opportunity, through these meals, to show them that they are loved," she stated.
The project also helped high school seniors raise funds for future mission trips to low-income communities around the world. Among the activities planned for these trips are sports programs, construction work, and vacation Bible schools. Some students are already saving for a trip to Costa Rica. On Friday (11th), younger students participated in a fun run throughout the school to raise funds for the mission trips.
For the students, the project represented an opportunity to put their faith principles into practice. Judson Slavich, a student at the school, highlighted the privilege of having access to food in the United States and the ability to share Christ's love with people in Third World countries. The expectation of school leaders is that students understand how an action taken in Boca Raton can produce impacts on the lives of people they may never meet in person.
