The annual We Scare Hunger Food Drive begins today. The food drive, organized by Orono Youth in Action will last throughout the week. All items will be donated to the Interfaith Outreach & Community Partners (IOCP) food shelf, WeCAN, and the Spartan Closet. The goal of the food drive is to combat food insecurity in the Orono community.

Food insecurity is defined as “the condition of not having access to sufficient food, or food of an adequate quality, to meet one’s basic needs” by Oxford Languages. In Minnesota, approximately 15% of children under the age of 18 are food insecure. In 2023, there were more than 7.5 million food shelf visits. That is more than 2 million more visits than in 2022, and the third consecutive annual increase in visits. The rise in visits to food shelves underscores the critical importance of the food drive.

All food donations will go to Orono families in need through the IOCP and WeCan, and also to Orono students specifically via the Spartan Closet.

“Donations go to IOCP and WeCAN. They both have food shelves that support Orono families,” Youth in Action advisor Genna Torney said, “and then we put individual snacks in [the Spartan Closet].

The Spartan Closet, explains Ms. Torney, is a place for OHS students to receive basic needs including but not limited to food, clothing, and school supplies.

“The Spartan Closet is a basic needs closet for anyone in the high school that needs it. [It] has food items, school supplies, clothing, [and more]” Ms. Torney said.

The food drive is not limited to Orono High School, and students throughout the district will be able to participate and donate food.

“We’ll have boxes at each building, including the high school, for people to bring non-perishable donations” Ms. Torney said.

Examples of non-perishable food items are granola bars, canned meat, soups, cereals, pasta, and individually packaged snacks.

This will likely not be the only food drive by Youth in Action this year, according to student leader Avery Bohlinger.

“We’ll probably do a holiday [food drive]” Bohlinger said.