West Campus’s Key Club packed 355 boxes at Feed My Starving Children, otherwise known as FMSC, breaking their own record for the third time.

This is a big deal not only to the school but to the organization of FMSC because records were broken, meaning that more kids and families have access to foods and nutrients essential to survive.

Emma Theel, a math teacher at West and that campus’s Key Club advisor, is very proud of her students. 

“I believe we had 163 people there including both adults and kids,” she said. “We [Key Club] went for the first time in 2017.” 

The previous packing record for the Schaumburg facility was 312 boxes packed in a two-hour session. West’s Key Club broke that record in 2017 with 346 boxes.

“Last year, we broke our own record by one by doing 347 boxes,” Theel said. “This year, the Schaumburg facility moved to a bigger facility and our record fell. The record was 355 boxes, [so] we did 397 boxes! This will help to feed 295 kids for a year.”

Volunteers for FMSC pack food boxes that get shipped all over the world to countries with impoverished families, or areas where there is severe famine. 

When arriving at FMSC, volunteers have a representative from the organization go over the idea of why they are doing what they do, and what their overall goal of packing the boxes of food will do for families. Then volunteers are then split into groups by country, where you bag food, weigh, seal, and box all the packages.

Sophomore Kylie Chisamore was one of the volunteers who went to FMSC with Key Club.

“Feed My Starving Children is a really fun experience, and I would recommend it because it makes you feel really good about helping others,” she said. “To me, it means that you’re helping others by giving them a step to better their future to become healthier.”

Key Club is an organization at both West and East Campus who arrange for students to volunteer at a variety of events, where they acquire community service hours.