Photo by Christopher Dacanay Jefferson County Christian School third-graders scooped meal ingredients into bags during the school’s Feed the Need packing party. From left are Abigail Bayness, Maddox Conway, Rory Birney and Marshall Clements.

WINTERSVILLE — Jefferson County Christian School Friday made a party out of its fundraising initiative, aimed at providing meals for those experiencing food insecurity.

Students from all grades, preschool through 12th, donned purple shirts and hairnets to take part in the school’s 2025 Feed the Need packing party. Occurring throughout the school day, the high-energy event saw students work in an assembly line to package 10,000 meals that will be distributed locally and globally.

Principal Scott Abercrombie said students watched a training video and shared a quick pep rally prior to the event’s start. First, he noted, the entire school joined in prayer and asked for “blessings over the day.”

“It’s a great opportunity for our entire school family to be working together to do mission work,” he said of the packing party.

The activities represented the culmination of the school’s fundraising campaign, which launched in January and sought $75,000 in community donations. Much of those funds would contribute toward flooring replacements and technology upgrades at the school’s Fernwood Road building, with an initial portion reimbursing event partner the Champion Group for supplies and consulting.

As of Friday, JCCS had collected $67,345 toward its goal. That already surpasses the school’s roughly $60,000 earned from its first Feed the Need fundraiser, which took place in November 2019.

Every student, down to the littlest helper, had a role to play Friday.

The assembly line began with students scooping rice, lentils, dried vegetables and protein powder into bags. Those were weighed to ensure proper sizing and heat sealed. Like a bucket brigade, students passed bags from one person to the next until they reached a table, where bags were organized into packages.

Younger students used crayons to draw pictures — sporting phrases like “Jesus loves you” and “Our God is an awesome God” — that will be included in the packages along with bagged meals. Each bag is equivalent to six meals.

Participants sang and danced along to energetic music, being played over a speaker system.

Students from different grade levels took shifts throughout the day. One of those shifts saw seniors working alongside preschoolers and third graders.

At the bag weighing station was senior Adriana Corder. This was her first time participating in Feed the Need, having come to JCCS in 2020.

“I love it,” she said, beaming. “We are called to serve as Christians, and this is an amazing opportunity to serve people.”

Corder said it’s a “blessing” to combat hunger and help others, close to home and abroad. Meals will be distributed at the Urban Mission, Friendship Room, Pittsburgh Dream Center and an orphanage in Bangladesh.

Donations can be made by visiting myjccs.org and following the Feed the Need link.