Students Learn About Generosity Through Food Drive

Every school in America, private or public, strives to teach their students about core academic subjects – literature, history, art, math, music, science, health – but how many are actively working to teach their students about generosity and the joy of giving to others? Berean Christian High School is. Along with discipleship and scholarship, service is part of Berean’s core identity. Last month, that identity was manifested in a community-wide food drive in partnership with the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Counties.

Joshua McNeal (senior), led the effort to collect non-perishable food items to donate to the food bank. Incredibly, the Berean community donated 726 pounds of food. This is the equivalent of 605 meals for people in the Contra Costa area.

This was McNeal’s service project. The project fulfills a requirement to be a member of the Community Service and Leadership Committee. McNeal says that he was excited to see how much the Berean community stepped up. He did not expect to collect so much food. For him, the community’s generosity reinforced the idea that this is what disciples should do automatically. McNeal says Jesus was very clear that we should be helping one another, especially in our most vulnerable moments.

“Giving should be second nature to us as Christians,” says McNeal.

According to Neil Zarchin, the Food Drive Administrator at the Food Bank, one in six residents in the local area rely on the Food Bank for emergency and supplemental food. This is a 40% increase since the pandemic began. On their website the Food Bank points out that they are second responders during times of crisis caused by economic downturns, fires, and natural disasters. Research shows that food insecurity is linked to poor overall health. The Food Bank is working to strengthen the community by providing healthy food to individuals and families who need it.

Zarchin was impressed with Berean’s commitment to the food drive. “It was an overwhelming show of support and strength from the students to the community,” he says. “We like working with students because we hope to inspire a lifetime of philanthropy when they see how much good a small act can do.”

And that seed appears to have been planted in Josh McNeal. Running this food drive made McNeal feel good. It’s a curious feature in how God designed us – the more we give to others, the more good feelings are generated in us. God implanted this emotion – joy – into His creation and connected it to the act of generosity. When fed properly, joy becomes an internal motivator to continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus. It’s brilliant, really.

Even before Jesus began his ministry, John the Baptist was teaching his followers that they must give generously in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

“The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same,” (Luke 3:11).

Leading this service project taught McNeal a number of valuable life skills as well. He says it taught him how to get something done, something real. He had to work with an organization outside of school to coordinate the logistics of the project. Unlike a school assignment which, let’s face it, can occasionally feel artificial, the stakes were real here. People were counting on him.

Josh says he sometimes suffers from a fatalist mindset. He wonders if anything he does makes a real difference. The food drive project helped him see the difference that he can make.

“Sometimes it takes one person to start something good and then others will join,” McNeal reflects. “I needed that reminder.”

If you would like to get involved with ending hunger in the Contra Costa and Solano Counties, visit the food bank’s website to learn how at www.foodbankccs.org.

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