On Wednesday morning, Logan County high school students had 90 seconds to fill shopping carts with as many non-perishable food items as possible.

This supermarket sweep competition is being referred to as Seniors Helping Seniors. All the donations acquired are to be donated to 20 different households of senior citizens in need of basic food necessities.

The event was hosted at Priceless IGA and put on by Independence Bank and Barren River Area Development District.

Students from Logan County Schools and Russellville Independent Schools raced through the aisles, collecting cereal boxes, canned vegetables, peanut butter jars, canned fruit, and more.

“Everything that went to the cart, we were able to purchase and then here in a couple of weeks, we’ll participate with these students to actually go into some of these homes and deliver the food to the recipients that will actually be the end users of the of what was purchased today,” said President of Independence Bank Chad Hall.

Hall says the event has been going on for six years and explained the importance of including students in these types of community events.

“We try to meet the needs of housing, food, and education,” Hall said. “So, partnering with the high schools and our school districts to make that happen is important. Having the kids actually here and participating adds a little bit of flavor to it for them, but it also makes it more real because they’re able to actually participate.”

Ramon Amos, a senior at Russellville High School, participated in the competition and described how it felt to contribute to a cause that would help people in need.

“It’s such a big honor to want to help our community and really play a big part in it,” Amos said. “Knowing I’m helping people who come from low-income families, because I’ve been there, everybody’s been there, it’s really nice to know they’re all helping people.”

Deputy Director at BRADD Michelle Hines said that BRADD has an area of the agency that focuses on aging and independent living, where they provide services to seniors. Seeing the community contribute to helping provide senior citizens facing food insecurity with necessities is helping them live out one of BRADD’s missions.

“Feeding seniors now and feeding our people in Logan County makes us feel wonderful,” Hines said. “It is one of our missions. We get to see these kids in the community want to help, and it started at an early age by helping, the IGA and the bank. We’re so thankful that they want to help.”

The students from Russellville High School won the competition and were awarded $500 to go towards the school.

The food collected will be distributed to senior citizens on Nov. 13.

By Presley Allen
Published: Nov. 1, 2023
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