MCLEAN, Va., May 18, 2015 — Five student teams from middle and high schools around the country have won the third annual Lead2Feed World Hunger Leadership Challenge and will be awarded $25,000 each for their schools’ nonprofit of choice engaged in hunger relief, and $20,000 in technology products for their school. Lead2Feed is the nation’s leading and fastest growing free service learning program which aims to solve world hunger by teaching leadership skills to students. Since its inception in 2012, nearly a million students in 3,500 schools and clubs participated across all 50 states donating more than 22,000 volunteer hours and one million meals to hungry families. Lead2Feed was developed by the USA Today Charitable Foundation, with support from Lift a Life Foundation and Yum! Brands Foundation.
To win the Lead2Feed World Hunger Leadership Challenge, students formed teams and created programs to end local and global hunger. This year, more than 1,000 teachers nationwide registered as Lead2Feed members. From those educators who submitted student-led projects, five teams were selected based on the innovative and impactful programs they conducted to combat hunger.
The five grand prize recipients include:
•Grassfield High School, Chesapeake, VA: A team of students creatively collected over 1,100 pounds of food and raised hundreds of dollars to combat hunger in their community through events like Movie Night Food Drive with “Stacy Clause,” and a school-wide food drive. They also started the “Little Grizzlies” backpack program to supply food to elementary students
•Doss High School, Louisville, KY: With a team of more than 50, these students created an international festival for their community, held a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, and hosted a Local Area Network party, while running a concession cart during all events. This group raised nearly $4,000 to ensure Syrian refugees had meals upon their arrival to Kentucky.
•Design and Architecture Senior High, Miami, FL: A team of ninth graders collected 1,831 pounds of food equaling more than 3,000 weekend meals to students who are hunger insecure in the Miami-Dade area. These students not only support their school, but 15 local schools depend on these ninth graders for weekend meals as well.
•Odessa High School FBLA, Odessa, WA: Seven local students raised more than $8,800 to sponsor 55 food kits over 35 weeks for students in need. Students also created a sustainable backpack initiative, made available on weekends when the majority of hunger agencies are closed, to ensure no community member is left hungry.
•The Harbour School at Baltimore, Owing Mills, MD: This group of motivated students utilized 3D printing technology and social media to drive awareness around local hunger issues acrossMaryland and 10 other states. The school united with a local Middle School to raise over 200 pounds of food. This is the second year The Harbour School has won the Lead2Feed grand prize.
Additionally, Lead2Feed is awarding $10,000 charitable grants based on the outstanding work of these teams:
•Johnson Traditional Middle School, Louisville, KY
•Brawley High School HOSA, Brawley, CA
•Seneca High School, Louisville, KY
•North Sanpete Middle School FBLA, Moroni, UT
•George Washington High School, Chicago, IL
•Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, Chicago, IL
•Flagami Elementary Community Helpers, Miami, FL
•Menchville High School, Newport News, VA
•Malon D. Mimms Boys and Girls Club, Canton, GA
•The Walter Damrosch School, Bronx, NY
And $5,000 charitable grants based on the outstanding work of these teams:
•Baylor School, Chattanooga, TN
•Eisenhower High School Freshmen, Lawton, OK
•McDowell Intermediate High School, Erie, PA
•Bagdad High School FCCLA, Bagdad, AZ
•South Seminole Middle School, Casselberry, FL
•St. Francis Episcopal Day School, Houston, TX
•Atlanta High School FBLA, Atlanta, LA
•Providence Preparatory Academy, Rome, GA
•Winton Woods Middle School, Cincinnati, OH
•Benson Polytechnic HOSA, Portland, OR
“Inspiration is one of the many words that come to mind when I think of the hundreds of thousands of students finding ways to combat and understand world hunger in their local communities,” said David Novak, executive chairman of Yum! Brands, Inc. “Lead2Feed provides the opportunity to teach the next generation of leaders how to lead the right way—with compassion and understanding—this program is making the world a better place for generations to come.”
The Lead2Feed curriculum incorporates leadership principles from Yum! Brands’ Executive ChairmanDavid Novak’s book, TAKING PEOPLE WITH YOU: The Only Way to Make BIG Things Happen. Students get hands-on experience with Novak’s idea that the only way to make big things happen is to have other people on your side.
“We are very pleased to be awarding these students for the admirable work they have accomplished in their communities through the Lead2Feed Program this year,” said Diane Barrett, president of the USATODAY Charitable Foundation. “After launching the Lead2Feed program only three years ago, we are amazed to see the experiences this service-learning program has brought to students each year. Not only are they actively learning but they are learning important skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity.”
