2018 Rogers Scholar Chase Eastham placed this mailbox at Southwestern High School to collect and store donated food.
2018 Rogers Scholar Chase Eastham organized “Give a Can, Take a Can” to provide non-perishable food items for students in need at Southwestern High School.
Earlier this year, Eastham installed a mailbox on the school campus to collect and store donated food items.
Eastham, a graduate of The Center for Rural Development’s Rogers Scholars program, came up with the idea for the community service project as a way to give students in need access to non-perishable food items any time of the day and any day of the week, regardless if school is in session or not.
“I have been truly blessed in my life and have never had to worry about necessities, such as food,” said Eastham, a senior at Southwestern High School. “I simply want to help others feel they no longer need to worry about being hungry.”
Southwestern High School Family Resource Center has agreed to monitor and restock donated food items as needed.
“There were times when we did not have any food bags available to give, and we were able to utilize the food from the project to help,” said Jessica Masten, coordinator of the school’s Family Resource Center. “Not only does it help to serve those outside of school hours, we can utilize the donated food as a supplement to help fill in the gaps for those in need.”
Eastham is the son of Derek and Andrea Eastham.