On Feb. 16 the student body came together to help kids in need. 

The Full Tummy Project is a nonprofit organization based out of Athens that helps provide meals to students in the city that may be food insecure. They send bags home with kids on Fridays that contain enough food for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday. The Student Council organizes an event each year where clubs throughout the school bring in food items, and they are all packed into bags on a day entitled “Full Tummy Packing Day.” This year they packed around 2500 bags.

SCA’s (Student Council Association) secretary, senior Alyssa Carlota was the officer heading up this event. 

“It is very satisfying knowing kids in our own school system will have a good meal because of our donations,” Carlota said.

Carlota and other SCA sponsors and officers put in a lot of work to make this project successful, but it was all rewarded.

“After finishing with the Full Tummy Project, seeing our hard work result in such a successful donation was extremely fulfilling for all who were involved!” Carlota added.

The Full Tummy Project and packing day are schoolwide events where everyone can participate. For freshmen like Bailey Higgins, it was a great new experience.

“It was really heartwarming to see the students at Athens come together to help pack the bags and work together for such an important cause,” Higgins said.

The school coming together is part of what makes this day so special.

“One of the greatest parts of this project is watching as our entire school joins together and collaborates to make this elaborate project a success,” Carlota said. “Our entire school does a great job of being involved, and it truly shows how well AHS can unites to provide for our community!” 

SCA sponsor, science teacher Mrs. Nicole Taylor, pours her heart into her school and her community. This project is very meaningful to her. WAFF 48 news channel even came to support the cause and placed it on the evening news. 

“I was super excited WAFF 48 was coming so that it can bring awareness and encourage other schools to participate in events like this in their community,” Mrs. Taylor said.