PIE students join forces to reduce food insecurity

Members of the Putnam County PIE Coalition, representing all four county schools, display the giant piece of “PIE” they crafted from more than 2,200 canned goods in an effort to bring awareness to the matter of food insecurity.

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The last few months have been a whirlwind for the Putnam County PIE Student Coalition. Making plans and finalizing details for a second-annual canned food drive took time and a lot of dedication and commitment not only from the students but their school communities as well.

PIE stands for Prevention, Intervention and Education on Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco. This is a collaboration between students from all four county schools and their school administrators.

Students meet the third Friday each month at 6:45 a.m. at the Putnam County Fairgrounds for breakfast and to discuss serious issues facing teens today. Students listen to guest speakers that have life experiences with substance abuse and professionals that work in the field of recovery.

More than 65 students from all four county schools commit to attending and participating in various projects throughout the year.

This year students felt strongly the issue of food insecurity was an area they wanted to pursue and plans for the second annual food drive would be a good fit. The group realized that being hungry could lead to risky behaviors like unlawful activity and potentially involved with juvenile probation.

To help decrease food insecurity, students elected to take on a “canned food construction” project. The student membership chose building a piece of “PIE” to help bring awareness to the organization but more importantly to the ever increasing need to serve others in need, especially during holiday season.

PIE enlisted the help of a local INDOT engineer Jake Gould, a South Putnam and Rose Hulman graduate. Gould was honored the group connected with him and volunteered his time for as long as needed. At a PIE meeting with the school administrators, the project was approved, and so it was now time to go to work.

With only a few weeks remaining before the event, on Sunday, Nov. 12, PIE students and school administrators met Gould at South Putnam for a quick lunch and set the production in place. The piece of PIE took 2,260 cans exactly and looked quite familiar to a piece of pumpkin pie at the completion.

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The students’ theme was “It’s always easy with PIE to donate.” This construction was on display throughout the week at South Putnam High School leading up to the Putnam County Girls’ Basketball Tournament.

The students wanted to make the project a little more competitive and interesting, so a contest ensued in which the school with the most donations would be declared the winner and their principal and athletic director would volunteer to receive a “PIE” in the face in between games on the second night of the tournament.

Cloverdale’s team led all Friday evening and looked as if Principal Sonny Stoltz and Athletic Director James Wade would be the winners of the PIE in the face. South Putnam was close in second, along with North Putnam and Greencastle not too far behind.

Students from North Putnam took the competition seriously and made connections with their students and fans, along with varsity girls’ basketball oach Curtis Lawrence.

Ultimately, the Cougar Nation made a huge leap and passed Cloverdale to earn the first-place spot.

Jason Chew, principal at North Putnam, was escorted to the gym floor on Saturday evening and was seated awaiting his fate. He was the recipient of two cream-filled pies. He was a good sport for a worthy cause.

With North Putnam having won a canned food drive during the Putnam County Girls’ Basketball Tournament, Principal Jason Chew takes a pie in the face.

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Thanks to all the donations of canned food items and money, each school received more than 500 canned food items to share with their local food pantries or blessing boxes in the communities. This was a tremendous undertaking led by the PIE student membership from each county school.

Students worked hard to ensure our families will have food for the next few weeks as we enter the holiday season.

PIE directors Linda Merkel Renee Marsteller and Tom Sutherlin thanked everyone who gave of their time, energy and talents and most of all to the Putnam County school communities that supported this project.

Gratitude was also extended to those who helped ensure the project would become a reality — Paula Fry of Co-Alliance, Kroger, all four school communities, Jake Gould, Putnam County PIE students, Dan Fry, William Merkel and WREB.