ONE DAY this past spring, a group of high school students gathered in front of the Thrifty Foods in Duncan and asked shoppers if they would add one little item to their shopping list: a bag of rice.

About 2,000 kilograms of this very basic form of nutrition were collected for Duncan’s local food bank. The students also raised around $6,000, asking shoppers to consider donating money to aid international hunger relief in a developing country.

For the last four years, Duncan Christian School (DCS) has participated in the Rice Raiser. It is an initiative of the B.C.-based Hunger Response International, a humanitarian organization which partners with schools for its fundraising efforts.

Lorri Sawatsky, executive director of the Rice Raiser, said the project was designed to feed the poor both locally and internationally. The actual bags of rice are sent to local food banks, while money raised this year goes to hunger relief projects in Burundi, Guatemala, India and Uganda.

“We encourage students to learn about what is going on in their communities,” she said, “along with the global issue of hunger in developing countries.”

Leon Van Essen is the teacher who brought the Rice Raiser to DCS four years ago. Speaking with BCCN last month, his excitement surrounding the project was still fresh.

“The thing that appeals to me about it is that the students are actually doing something about hunger – which is something we talk about, but don’t always initiate action towards,” he said.

“It empowers students, because they have a way of acting on something that they feel strongly about.”

Prior to going out to the public, the students involved attended a class to learn about hunger relief. Van Essen noted that a lot of kids don’t realize we have a hunger problem in Canada.

“There are a significant number of people on the Island who need the food bank,” he said. As a teacher, he appreciates the opportunity the Rice Raiser gives him to educate the students to community needs.

Continue article >>

Cameron Groendijk, DCS student council president, can attest to this.

“I’ve gone to a Christian school all my life,” he said. “The Rice Raiser opens your eyes. It’s a way for me to participate in hunger relief on two different levels.”

Cameron was one of the student volunteers split up into shifts to man the booth in front of Thrifty Foods over the course of a week. Students were prepped beforehand so they wouldn’t be nervous speaking to adult shoppers – a skill that Van Essen noted as another benefit of donating time to the project.

“It’s easier to help than you think it is,” said Cameron. “All you have to do is say, ‘Hey, can you buy a bag of rice? Do you have spare change?’ The little things make a big difference.”

Sawatsky said DCS was a “tremendous” example of how she intended the project to work. She even received letters from the Duncan community that let her know they appreciated seeing youth involved.

The goal, said Sawatsky, is to eventually see the project expand into the rest of Canada.

Currently, the Canadian government matches funds gathered through the Rice Raiser for the international hunger relief projects, and Sawatsky hopes this will encourage more schools to take up the challenge.

Asked why rice was chosen, she said: “More rice is eaten than any other food group in the world.”

The Rice Raiser website also encourages people to think healthy. So buy brown rice, next time you donate.

Contact RiceRaiser.org.

July 2010