Congratulations to West Valley DECA, located in Yakima, WA, for being named a $5,000 grant recipient in the Explore.Act.Tell Program.
Since 2022, West Valley DECA has played an integral role in providing help for families in need within its school district. To achieve this goal, the chapter hosts donation drives at local grocery stores to support the Ram Landing program. This program supports McKinney-Vento families within the district in acquiring necessities such as food, clothing and hygiene products.
This program supports over 50 families each week, and West Valley DECA’s donation drives help Ram Landing achieve its goal of staying fully stocked throughout the school year. To achieve this goal, West Valley DECA members work closely with both chapter and Ram Landing volunteers.
Volunteers from the DECA chapter, along with an adult volunteer from Ram Landing, book spaces outside local grocery stores once a month to collect donations from community members. The Ram Landing coordinator identifies in advance which items they are most in need of, so volunteers can hand community members lists of exactly what they should look for while shopping.
When exiting the store, shoppers can then drop off the requested food item from the provided list or share a monetary donation. These food items were then loaded into volunteers’ cars and taken to the Ram Landing facility at the end of the drive.
West Valley DECA is honored to be a grant recipient and excited to be able to continue supporting Ram Landing initiatives and the families in its community.
The Explore.Act.Tell. Program helps students in grades 6 to 12 recognize food insecurity issues in their neighborhoods. The students learn skills needed to be responsible citizens and advocate for community service. This initiative is funded by Nourishing Neighbors, a charitable program of Albertsons Companies Foundation, which seeks to ensure at-risk children, adults, seniors, and families have access to the food they need to thrive. Since 2020, FILL has partnered with Nourishing Neighbors to recognize students’ efforts to end hunger in their communities across the United States.
