Shelves were looking pretty sparse in the Salvation Army’s food pantry, before three Eastside Connections students took it upon themselves to help fill them with food.

Twin sisters Natalie and Nicole Millin, 12, and fellow Eastside Connections student Matigan Riggenbach, 11, heard about the local food pantry’s problem in March, when they saw a letter the Salvation Army posted about the need for donations.

Additionally, the twins helped their grandma, Meri Millin, drop off food donations at the Salvation Army. During one visit they got a peek at the shelves.

“They were almost completely empty,” Nicole said.

With permission from their school, the students set out to host a food drive, with a goal to collect 1,000 food items throughout the first three weeks of April. The students donated the items last week and exceeded their goal by more than three times, bringing in more than 3,100 items of food.

The Salvation Army relies on community donations to stock its food pantry, which allows them to provide up to a week’s worth of groceries at a time to those in need. The organization also offers utility, rent and disaster assistance to people across Berrien and Cass counties.

“Since they do so much for our community they need people helping them and we realized that if nobody else was going to do it then we would have to,” Matigan said.

The Eastside students said they took the idea to start a food fundraiser to their principal Joe Racht, who supported the project.

Throughout the first three weeks of April, donations from students at Eastside Connections poured in. One student, whose parents have ties to a cereal company, was able to donate 1,000 boxes of cereal.

“Usually we think of an adult doing something like this. It was cool to get [food] from kids in our school and have everybody be a part,” Matigan said. 

Salvation Army Volunteer Coordinator Tim Douglas said the spring and summer stretch can be one of the toughest for sustaining food donations.  Douglas said supplies had gotten so low that the organization had to dip into its contingency fund to help re-stock some of the shelves with staples.

“It was a really great blessing to get that [the donations] from them,” Douglas said.

Many of the items donated included some necessary staples like peanut butter, soup and cereal. Douglas said he expects the food supply to last into June.

Dropping off the donations, the students said they felt good to see how much the donations meant to the organization.

“They were thanking us,” Natalie said.

The students helped to bring the donations and watched as the pantry was transformed from mostly barren shelves to a well-stocked pantry.

The students said they hope for the spring food drive to become a tradition at the school.

“You hear people talk about how people want to change the world,” Matigan said, “But you have to start with your community first.”

To donate:

To donate food, drop off goods between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Salvation Army, 424 N. 15th St., Niles. For more information, visit salvationarmyusa.org