They say it takes a village to help a child, but someone has to organize the village so the help comes effortlessly.
In Lena, that someone is Noah Lasley, a senior at Lena High School and a member of the Lena FFA, who gathered more than 70 volunteers to pack 41,760 meals at the Nurses Nook recently. The meals will remain in Oconto County, benefiting the Lena, Suring, Gillett, Oconto Falls and Oconto school districts.
For Lena, the meals will be part of the district’s backpack program that gives weekend meals to low-income families.
The idea sprang from an FFA leadership conference Lasley attended this past summer, when he and other FFA members joined together put together more than 60,000 meals.
“It was a really fulfilling experience, and it really inspired me to want to do it here, as well,” Lasley said. “The entire trip in general, it opened my eyes to how much I can do.”
After the national conference, Lasley met with the local FFA officers to discuss how to replicate the Washington meal preparation. He said his adviser was interested in making it happen, and the team started to brainstorm how to get people to volunteer and how to get the money to purchase the items needed to make the meals.
“Luckily, the Nurses Nook took it upon themselves,” Lasley said. “They paid for all the meals. They got pizza and drinks and snacks for everybody. I could not have done it without the Nurses Nook.”
The meals are enough to provide for area families in need for the next year or two, according to Lasley. He noted that Lena still has meals left from another event held in Gillett.
The meal kits provided rice soup and oatmeal, split almost evenly. Everything was shipped to Lena by Meals of Hope, Lasley said.
Such a big undertaking could be stressful for someone who hadn’t done it before. Lasley was very chill about it, though, noting that he solicited volunteers from the FFA and the high school’s National Honor Society, of which he is also a member.
“I wasn’t really worried at all,” he said. “I was very excited for it to come. I was very optimistic about the turnout I would have.”
Lasley also contacted the other Oconto County FFA volunteers and encouraged them to take part.
“We had kids from Oconto Falls come in,” Lasley said. “I believe we also had a couple from Gillett and Suring. We had staff from Lena come in. We had FFA alumni come in from my chapter and Oconto Falls chapter. I was very optimistic that it would be a great day.”
Lasley got even more pleasure from the experience, as the work day also coincided with his birthday.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday,” he said.
Birthday aside, Lasley said it was a great experience for him to try and manage such a large effort. He noted the experience gave him the chance to improve his public speaking skills, something that will benefit him greatly as he plans on running for state FFA office in 2026.
When it came to summarizing the volunteer work done to feed hungry children in Oconto County, however, Lasley was unsure what to say.
“I have hardly any words, because my mind is just blown that we were able to pull it off,” he said. “I knew we were going to be able, but actually being there and doing it and seeing the event come to fruition was just a different kind of experience.”
Lasley said it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that, if he’s elected to state office, that he would return and have another meal prep event that would continue to care for children in families that aren’t always able to get enough to eat.
“It could be an annual event,” Lasley said.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
