Four Rivers ‘Service Squad’ spearheads food drive, collects more than 2,000 items

GREENFIELD — A new, student-led community service club at Four Rivers Charter Public School just collected more than 2,000 food items, toiletries and sanitary supplies through a school-wide food drive to support the Franklin County Community Meals Program.

Four Rivers senior Ashley Schlinger formed the community service club, dubbed the “Service Squad,” this fall. She said she has always wanted to start a student-run club at the school, and community service is important to her.

“I grew up doing community service through my church, and saw there was a need in the community, multiple needs,” Schlinger said of her inspiration to found the Service Squad.

The club met for six weeks this semester, spending the first couple of weeks discussing the different aspects of community needs and services that interested all 14 members. The group ultimately chose to focus their attention on a large service project, and the idea for a school-wide food drive came together. The drive ran through Oct. 25.

“I asked what was most meaningful to them, for needs in the community, and how we could successfully contribute to something together,” Schlinger said. “Right from the start I knew my school would really pull through with this. It’s a really community-oriented place.”

To inspire more participation, the Service Squad turned the food drive into a friendly competition complete with “Food Drive Face-Off” posters. Every single homeroom — or “crew” as they’re called at Four Rivers — participated to see who could collect the most items.

“That was really a game changer for students at my school,” Schlinger said.

The winning room collected a total of 560 items on its own. In total, the school ended up gathering more than 2,000 items, “two van loads” worth, of food and personal sanitation and hygiene items. Some additional items are still filtering in, Schlinger said.

After the collection was complete, Schlinger coordinated with the Franklin County Community Meals Program to donate the items.

“Since the pandemic, we’ve been holding pop-up pantry tables at all of our meal sites, so some food went to those pop-ups at Greenfield and Orange community meals sites,” said Franklin County Community Meals Program Executive Director Rachel Berggren. “The rest went to the Orange Food Pantry.”

Berggren said one of the most beneficial aspects of Four Rivers’ collection was the hygiene and toiletry items, which are not normally received through providers like the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

“Partnerships with schools, students and people in the community doing their own community organizing is the lifeblood of our organization,” Berggren said. “It makes what we do possible.”

While Schlinger will be graduating from Four Rivers at the end of the school year, she hopes she can “pass the torch” on to a current junior or other student who would like to continue the Service Squad and lead future community service projects.

Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.