Shadle Park High School joins forces with younger students to stuff 10,000 packs of instant oatmeal for ‘something to give back’

A heaping cupful of dry oats, a scoop each of cinnamon and sugar and a spoonful of dried apple bits – those were the components Shadle students poured into pouches to create instant breakfasts for donation at a two-day service event hosted in the school’s gym Wednesday and Thursday.

Unlike a packet of apple cinnamon Quaker Oats, this recipe has a secret ingredient: the 13 Shadle students who led the endeavor, said Chris Sloan of Generation Alive, a Spokane nonprofit dedicated to promoting youth compassion and leadership development that partnered with the school and other sponsors to host the event.

Hundreds of young pupils from nearby elementary and middle schools joined forces with the high schoolers.

“It’s important, because in this day and age, people get a little worried that there’s not that much empathy around, but this alone kind of proves that it’s still alive and kids love to be a part of it,” said Shadle senior Lydia Shepherd, one of the 13 students who led their own table of students packing meals.

Kids worked efficiently in assembly lines, each dumping an ingredient into a pouch that another student sealed and others stacked into a box. Though hard at work, some couldn’t resist a hint of tomfoolery like flicking cinnamon at each other.

Over the two days, students aimed to fill 10,000 pouches of oatmeal, each containing four servings to be donated to Second Harvest, a nonprofit that brings food to hungry people in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

Loading up pouches, Balboa fifth-grader Emma Watts is reminded of her grandmother. Emma has fond memories distributing food with her grandparents.

“I like helping people, that’s my main goal in my life,” she said. “When my grandma was here, me and my grandpa were passing out food to homeless people.”

It’s the second year Shadle has hosted such an event, though the youngsters are a new addition this year. Shadle Principal Chris Dunn invited kids from elementary and middle schools who will attend Shadle, according to the district’s regular feeder pattern. Including future Shadle Highlanders in the event demystifies high school for the kids and allows them to bond with older students in their neighborhood, united for a just cause.

“This was a chance for us to say, ‘Let’s do something together, Let’s give back to the community together,’ ” Dunn said.

Working elbow-to-elbow with teenagers, Linwood fifth-graders and best friends Emma Seminario and Caitlyn Waidlich said it fueled their excitement to go to high school and sparked an interest in service.

“I thought I was gonna be super nervous and, like, fail,” Caitlyn said. “When I came here. I was like, ‘This is fun. This is really fun. I’m going to have a good day.’ ”

“Once you get used to it, you do it right, with practice and practice,” Emma Seminario said.

It’s a relatable feeling for Senior and table lead Samuel Picicci, who first began volunteering through Generation Alive when he was around their age.

“Helping others is, like, my biggest thing. I believe that I was born to help others and to serve and protect the community, so when they ask me if I want to help out people who are food insecure, I was all in for that,” said Picicci, who plans to pursue a career in law enforcement.

Table lead Ellie Pettey, also a long-time volunteer through Generation Alive, rallied to bring the food-packing marathon to her school, Dunn said. She sees plenty of opportunities to help out her Shadle community through service projects, but bestowing 10,000 packs of oatmeal gives her school a chance to spread the love outside Shadle’s walls.

“Our school has programs to give us opportunities, but usually they’re in the school, and we see the difference in our school instead of in the community,” Pettey said. “This is something to give back after they gave us so much.”

She beamed seeing hundreds of her peers fill the cinnamon-scented gym for the service project.

“I was really pushy about it because I knew our school had the potential,” she said.

“We could do it, we just actually have to do it.”