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No. 13 Vol. 6
www.thehackettstownnews.com
June 2017
Non-profit Works To Raise Awareness Of Local Hunger Hackettstown News
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By Anastasia Marchese ccording to the United States Department of Agriculture, in 2015, 42.2 million people in the U.S. lived in food insecure households, with more than six million of those being
children. Food insecure translates into going to bed hungry, worrying about the next meal, and/or eating calorie dense food that lacks nutrition because it is inexpensive and filling. These huge numbers can
make hunger seem impersonal. The reality, however, is that many people living here in Hackettstown are experiencing food insecurity and hunger, which can lead to poor health, poor academic and or work performance and very high levels of stress. One local group, The Knowlton Fine Arts (KFA) Homeschool Co-op wanted to raise awareness as well as funds to help combat this problem on a local level. It first started when Nicole Riddick, the group’s Fine Arts Dance teacher, and her dance students were deciding on a theme for their dance performance. They decided to have their music selections and choreography focus on the struggle of hunger. They wanted to go beyond an artistic representation and use the performance as an opportunity to combat hunger and support a local food pantry. The KFA dance performance took place at the Knowlton Presbyterian Church in Blairstown on May 5. The audience was asked to donate nonperishable food items or to make a monetary donation to support The Lord’s Pantry, which is one of the outreach ministries of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hackettstown.
The following Sat., May 13, KFA held its annual Spring Concert at Trinity. That day Trinity was in process of working with the postal service to sort non-perishable food items for families facing food insecurity right in Hackettstown. According to the UPS, “Every second Saturday in May, letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America collect the goodness and compassion of their postal customers, who participate in the NALC Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive - the largest one-day food drive in the nation.” The Director of KFA Melissa Browns announced that the free will offering
would be donated to The Lord’s Pantry as well and that food items were being collected in the foyer to contribute to the drive. According to their website, KFA is a “Christian non-denominational homeschool group drawing participating families from across Northern New Jersey and Northeast Pennsylvania. We exist to develop excellence in arts and music in our children, and to be a vibrant community for children and parents alike in friendship, encouragement, and sharing in the important and rewarding job of homeschooling.” By participating in the food drive KFA wanted to incorporate the practice of the arts with the practice of
charity by merging the two. The act of practice to the art of performance, KFA students wanted to use their Spring Concert to impact the community for good. This was the first year KFA offered dance as part of their program, but during the academic year Riddick was pleased to see the incredible growth of her students. At their performance she thanked her student assistant, Isabelle Jimenez, for helping model correct form for the young dancers. KFA also offers a variety of voice classes, choirs, concert band, a strings program, public speaking, writing and many visual art classes. There are also enrichment classes like arcontinued on page 2