As a part of the Hunger Project curriculum, the sixth graders went to the Westside Food Bank on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

Since 2007, the sixth grade classes have participated in a “hunger mission.” The purpose of their Hunger Project is to “raise awareness about hunger in the world and then actually do something about it,” sixth grade history teacher and advisor Theresa Dahlin said.

In order to achieve their mission, the class of 2021’s plans include starting a garden, volunteering at the Westside Food Bank and hosting the “Empty Bowls” dinner where the girls make ceramic bowls and sell them to their parents. The proceeds from the dinner go to the Westside Food Bank.

In an email interview, Dahlin explained, “Normally, our girls unpack multiple large bins of canned goods. We make boxes and reclassify them by genres like meat, soup, beans, etc. This time we came into the warehouse and saw three huge boxes of fresh carrots! Three thousands pounds to be exact.”

The 59 girls then emptied and re-boxed the carrots into pallets. After that, they unloaded canned goods and cleaned up the facility.

“It felt good to know that many people would be able to eat fresh produce. I learned all about how the Westside Food Bank works, and how many people come here to get food,” Nicole Farmer ’21 explained in an email interview.

That morning before the field trip, the sixth graders were surprised by a “Hunger Breakfast.” When the girls entered the room, they were randomly assigned to the upper, middle, or lower class. They were told to sit by class and were fed accordingly.

Dahlin said, “The distribution of the girls into [the classes] is the same as it is in the world, it’s a global ratio. They get to really physically see and experience— in one room— upper, middle, and lower class.”