By Jake Cooper
The Mount Union Area High School Future Business Leaders of America club is currently working on their chapter community service project. As part of that year-long project, Mount Union FBLA will be helping the Mount Union Area Food Pantry provide food for people in need in the Mount Union area. Many families across Huntingdon County rely on local food banks, and Mount Union FBLA wants to help as many families as they can.
Mount Union FBLA members gathered information from the Mount Union Area Food Pantry representatives. Officers discovered through looking at statistics provided by the food bank, there has been a steady increase in families in need of food assistance since December of 2024. Furthermore, with the uncertainty of state and federal budgets, food pantry personnel are expecting even more families in upcoming months.
In prior years, Mount Union FBLA would do a seasonal food drive once a year, but after Mount Union FBLA officers became aware of the dire need for food in the community and the dramatic increase in community members reaching out for food assistance, the chapter wanted to make an impact not only on FBLA but also on the community as well.
To help make this project a success, Mount Union FBLA members have been brainstorming different methods to collect food.
During the month of October, Mount Union FBLA has organized a “Business Trick-or-Treat”. FBLA is teaming up with several local businesses, such as Community State Bank, The American Legion, Mount Union Firehall, Appleby’s Drug Store, and Agia Insurance.
Each business will collect food items throughout the month of October then FBLA members will “trick-or-treat” for those items later in the month.
A second project currently in progress is a team up with the Mount Union Chamber of Commerce and the Juniata River Blueprint Community to collect food during their scarecrow contest. Community members can vote for their favorite scarecrow by donating food items as votes. This event will be taking place on Thursday October 30th during the Mount Union Halloween parade.