Island native to help feed hungry children
It has been documented that one out of every four children in the United States goes to bed hungry each evening. Seeking to help change that alarming statistic is island resident and college student Montanna Honc.
“As a student teacher, there were many days where I would find myself sharing lunch with a sweet second grader whose parents could not afford the lunch program at school and she often only brought a small bag of fruit snacks to school each day,” Honc said. “Each day makes me realize how important a teacher’s role is to their student, their community and to the education system. So, that is why I have decided to help do something about these children.”
Honc will be participating in the nationwide campaign “Great American Bake Sale” to benefit the organization No Kid Hungry to raise funds for children in need throughout the country.
“My interest in the No Kid Hungry program started as a portfolio project for the College of Education,” Honc said. “We had to establish an event that involved increasing the success of toddlers and elementary children to help improve academic success.”
Honc will host a bake sale at Little Lilly’s Island Deli at the island center on Saturday, May 14, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in a joint effort to end childhood hunger by 2015. According to Honc a variety of baked goods will be for sale and all proceeds will benefit the No Kids Hungry program.
“We will be selling a variety of cookies, cakes, pies, muffins and cupcakes at Lilly’s Deli,” said Honc. “Our goal is a simple $300 and we are looking for sponsors and bakers to help out with the event.”
No Kid Hungry is a program that was established by the Share Our Strength organization who has focused not just on children having enough to eat, but also getting the proper nutrition they need to learn and grow. The program seeks to improve access for families to get healthy, affordable food and is also meant to generate awareness of this growing problem and to find solutions.
Honc has always been involved with her church and as a result has participated in missions that have shown her first-hand, the hunger that plagues children and their families world-wide.
“While attending college, my desire to help children grew and God opened a special place in my heart for missions and outreach programs. In 2008, I went on a mission trip to Haiti where I was able to see hardships that children and adults face on a daily basis,” Honc said. “Our task was to help re-build a school and church in the township of Cayes. I found richness in my soul to give back. I made a deeper connection with a boy who lived with the host family that we were staying with in Port-Au-Prince. We quickly became pen-pals and I still talk to Peterson every week and hope to one day return to Haiti.”
Honc also has participated in other missions within the inner cities of Washington D.C. and in Philadelphia where she also children who were in need.
Honc is currently attending the University of Central Florida where she will graduate with a Bachelor’s in elementary education/English writing and a minor in verbal dynamics.
For more information about the No Kid Hungry project to take place on Pine Island or to make a donation to the bake sale, visit islandbakesale.blogspot.com