SPOKANE, Wash. — You may remember Lewis and Clark High School junior Josh Hechtman. He started a club at his school to collect food that would normally go to waste after lunch so students in need could take it home.
Now Hechtman said he has special plans in store for the holiday season.
Even though Reproduce 81 began two months ago, the actual collecting of food started just three weeks ago.
In three weeks, Hechtman said club members have collected about 136 pounds of food, which is equivalent to about 109 meals. He know this because students log the food collected each week using an online system that lets them know the weight and how many meals it can create.
Thanksgiving is coming up too quickly for students to plan but they are hoping to do something special for kids who could use food to eat at home over Christmas break.
"Christmas I want to do something like, just get McDonald's gift cards or some sort of gift cards for people," Hechtman said. "Just talk to the members to see if they can bring extra stuff like cans or something, just stuff to have over the holidays because a lot of the kids...their main food comes from here and if they are out of school for two weeks, they are going to need some other source."
Hechtman said Reproduce 81 has about 40 members, with about 20 to 25 students who show up for meetings and volunteer work.
He originally started the club because he noticed all the food waste that during lunch time, knowing there are kids who do not have much to eat when they are at home. He hopes Reproduce 81 will serve as a platform for integrating this type of program into other Spokane schools.
Hechtman said he really wants to make the holidays special for students with his gift card plan. If you want to help, you can donate so students can receive gift cards to purchase food over the holiday break. You can do so on this website.