Lockport Township High School students help community share food, toys in time for holidays

Lockport — Over 120 Lockport Township High School students came to East Campus on Sunday to help distribute food, toys, clothes, and home goods with the school’s fourth annual ShareFest event.

While the indoor “store” portion of the event, which allowed families to collect items like clothing, toys, and other donated items was slated to start at 10 a.m., student volunteers said that people began to line up for distribution starting at 7 a.m. and the event was opened up early.

“It went up really fast,” said LTHS senior Natalie Krumdick, who was checking in families in the school field house. “We had a lot of tables across the room all stacked with stuff.”

By 11 a.m. most of the two basketball courts of tables had been emptied.

“It’s been a great turnout, and a great event. It’s really doubled-edged though. It speaks to the need in the community, but it’s also great to see parents and students coming out to help.”

—  Candace Gerritsen, School District 205 Board of Education membe

The early start also applied to the drive-up food giveaway in the school’s parking lot, which was supposed to start at noon.

“We had cars showing up at 10 o’clock, and lining up down 7th Street,” said District 205 Superintendent Dr. Robert McBride. “I feel a little bad, because I think people thought we might run out. They didn’t realize how much we have brought in, but it was becoming an issue for traffic, so as long as we were ready, we opened up early.”

ShareFest Founder Gary Cheney said that by noon, the LTHS volunteers had loaded over 250 cars with food, which they had set up on pallets in the parking lot early in the morning.

“Every year we get more organized,” said McBride. “Every year we do more pre-work and get more students involved. Because of that, this year we opened early and it has gone fast.”

According to Cheney, ShareFest had brought about 42,000 pounds of food and 20,000 pounds of nonfood items, which were all distributed for free over the course of the day to an estimated 700 families.

“It’s been a great turnout, and a great event,” said School District 205 Board of Education member Candace Gerritsen. “It’s really doubled-edged though. It speaks to the need in the community, but it’s also great to see parents and students coming out to help.”

Many of the student volunteers, who also spent hours on Thursday and Friday setting up the field house, are earning service hours for their time, which are needed to graduate and for National Honor Society qualification.

“We want our students to be career and college ready, and part of that is being good citizens and stewards of their community,” said Gerritsen, explaining why the district maintained the requirement.

The service requirement was difficult to fulfill though in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, McBride explained, which lead to the district creating four annual events for students to earn their hours, including the partnership with ShareFest.

“Every year we’ve gotten better organized, and now we’ve got it down to a science,” McBride said.

“We were ahead of schedule today with all the help,” said Cheney. “Many hands make light work.”

ShareFest Will County serves between 6,000 and 7,000 families per month through its delivery services, its Charitable Resource Center in New Lenox, and through its large distribution events through the community.

“Whoever knocks on our door, we’ll give them food,” Cheney said. “The need is much greater than we alone can handle, but there’s a great system of pantries in Will County. It’s not enough, but we’re making a dent in food insecurity.”

Cheney noted that the organization is always looking for donations, volunteers, and partners, but said they also appreciate prayers and social media mentions, which he said bring in a large portion of their recipients and volunteers.

After the students finished distributing food, they were working with ShareFest’s staff and the school custodial team to break down the packing boxes and shrink wrap, which ShareFest then takes to be recycled as part of its commitment to being a zero-waste operation.

“I can’t say enough for the students and staff here at Lockport, and throughout our community,” said Cheney, who also works with Providence Catholic High School for ShareFest events. “Everybody pitches in and we can help a lot of people in a short amount of time.”

“It made me feel really nice to see,” said Krumdick. “I love seeing how willing the community is to help each other out. It’s heart warming. This is a really nice thing everyone is doing.”