What we've Done
to benefit the community food bank & local pantries
We've involved ourselves with the Community Food Bank of NJ for many years now, starting with simply just drives that we conducted to donate to them, all the way to being a leader of New Jersey's first Teen Hunger Summit.
In April 2018, we received an award for leading Students Change Hunger in Livingston - raising enough food to place our "submission" at number one in Division 7.
In September 2018, CFBNJ created their first Teen Leadership Council where they selected 10 teens to meet every month with the goal of involving their schools more and ultimately inviting more schools to the forum we'd create.
The Food Bank, on Global Youth Service Day in 2019 (April), invited us to give a talk to youth and awarded us with recognition for helping NJ be able to vision a hunger-free future by starting Blissful Us.
In May 2019, the Teen Hosted Hunger Summit took place. We hosted around 100 teens on our first annual event and raised awareness about hunger, poverty, other issues that are still taking place today, and the importance of making a difference through community service projects.
(See pictures tab)
As builder's club president:
We hosted and conducted many events, such as volunteering at the Kiwanis International Karnival and their Arc Day for families with senior citizens or families with disabilities.
In addition to working with Kiwanis, we had events at our own school, whether it be as simple as volunteering at Back to School Night for parents or having a "Game Night" where students brought in toys and games to donate while also playing a bunch of board games with staff.
We also worked with the Livingston Advisory Committee for Disabilities and volunteered at parties they hosted for their members, such as the Halloween party, the Holiday one, or the Spring one.
Additionally, there is an annual event for Autism in Livingston (Shine a Light on Autism Night) where we send kids to volunteer every year, and each year they come back after having an incredible time.
Although all of this is simply a scratch of the surface, we can finally arrive at the food impact. We partnered with Key Club to start annual trips to the Food Bank to volunteer there and help sort out food for the people they donate to.
As well as this, we have been decorating brown bags every month to send to Tony's Soup Kitchen, a pantry where they donate meals to the homeless. Although we weren't doing the food donating, we tried to make it happier for them when they received their meal.
(See pictures tab)
the blissful pursuit, online literary magazine
Our Summer 2020 issue focuses on food insecurity, hunger, and current societal pandemic related issues.
This is the only place for middle school students, high school students, college students and writers to share their voice and opinions. The Blissful Pursuit strives to be the best online publication and writing journal for teenagers across the world. We focus on diversity, societal issues, and to make an impact with our words.