“No matter how big or small, each one of us has the power to impact the world in our own special way.” In this week’s edition of Beyond the Cupola, Rob Philo discusses how he turned an idea into a movement to impact the lives of those in need within his community.
The Friday Night Food Fight
My favorite hobby is thinking. Whether it’s about ways to help end world hunger or even just how to make my morning commute as short as possible, I’m constantly finding myself with thoughts running through my mind. The thing I love about thinking are the ideas that are sure to come. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve certainly had my fair share of strange ideas, but every now and again you happen to land on a great idea that could impact the world around you. And that’s where I found myself around three years ago.
My mother was in charge of a local food pantry. That food pantry meant just about everything to her. She took pride in serving the roughly 150 families that would come through each week needing food. The food pantry was driven entirely by donations. Every truck used, every food item given out, every trailer needed to store food came from the generous donations of those within the community. But there was a problem. Every year from July-October donations seem to dry up. And every year from July to October the pantry struggles to find food to give out to families. This was the thought that was running through my mind roughly three years ago. How on Earth do we bring in donations to help support the pantry? At the time I was a senior in high school. My first instinct was to start a food drive. That should work, right? Then I took the time to rethink all of the food drives my school had hosted over my time there. Each one seemed to barely bring in any food at all. I remember looking in a donation bin one time and seeing just a single can of Tuna. I knew I had to do something different.Like many high schools around Georgia, my high school took pride in our football team. Everyone in the school packs the stands each Friday to watch the Mill Creek Hawks take on their latest opponent. But what if I could find a way to harness the excitement and energy from our football team and use it to help support the local food pantry? That’s when the Friday Night Food Fight was born.
I created a plan to launch a food drive competition between my high school and our biggest rival, Dacula High School. Each school would have two weeks to bring in as many canned food donations as possible. At the end of the competition, the total weight brought in from each school would be divided by the school enrollment to get a single number, pounds per student. Whichever school brought in the highest pounds per student wins.
Both sides agreed to the competition, and two weeks before the big football game the competition began. There was an instant surge. Each school was determined to defeat their rival. Grocery stores sold out of canned foods. Students went door to door asking for donations. Even neighbors without students got into the action. By the end of the two weeks, the two schools had amassed a massive pile of donations.
The winner was to be announced at halftime of the football game. I remember sitting at the tailgate before the game. As I looked around, everyone had bags of last-minute donations, hoping to one-up the other side with a last-minute surge. It was seeing that passion, that desire to win, that excitement to help support the community that I knew the idea was a success.Halftime came around, and you could feel a noticeable tension in the air. Both sides were eager to find out which school had come out on top. They announced our team had won, and the crowd erupted with a thunderous cheer.
All in all, the two schools combined brought in over 44,000 pounds of canned food donations. That’s 22 tons! Through our support, we were able to sustain the food pantry not just for a few months, but almost the entire year. To this day the Friday Night Food Fight has expanded to 4 schools and now benefits 3 different food pantries. Since its inception, the FNFF has managed to bring in roughly 170,000 pounds of food to Gwinnett area communities. And next year we’re looking to expand to even more schools. As I look back it’s crazy to think that this all resulted from a single idea. And to this day I’ve learned, never underestimate the power of thinking. No matter how big or small, each one of us has the power to impact the world in our own special way.
Want to ready more about the Friday Night Food Fight? Check out these articles
https://www.ajc.com/news/local/gwinnett-schools-food-fight-helps-needy/uHcdSATTcHcpDhLqKWEM3I/