LPS students show kindness to others with Food Blitz drive

December 5, 2025

Hundreds of local residents will receive nourishing meals this holiday season thanks to hard work of many Lincoln Public Schools students.
 
LPS high schoolers gathered more than six tons of food and hygiene items for the People’s City Mission (PCM) during the Food Blitz XIII event. Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and DECA business club students from East, North Star, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Standing Bear displayed life-changing kindness at the food drive. They collected 12,526 pounds of materials from shoppers at Lincoln grocery stores and transported the items to PCM’s headquarters.
 
Southwest FBLA students Harnoor, Addison and Xavier said it was fulfilling to help others with their gifts of communication, teamwork and volunteerism. They promoted the event on multiple media outlets, spoke to people at grocery stores and packed food, water, toiletries and cooking supplies into trucks.
 
“I think it is so important to help the community by doing this event because everyone deserves the opportunity to have an adequate amount of food, especially for those who may not be able to afford enough to feed themselves and their families,” Addison said.
 
“One thing I enjoyed about this year’s Food Blitz was having the chance to interact with the community,” Harnoor said. “I was able to talk with those who donated, but also those who were curious about what we were doing. In the end, everyone understood the impact that our Food Blitz makes and supported us in any way they could.”
 
“It was amazing to see so many chapter members passionate about our cause of fighting against food insecurity,” Xavier said. “It felt a lot like one of our biggest years yet, and to be able to work on all aspects of the event from news promotion to being there the day of, it was awesome to be so involved.”

 
Southwest business teacher Josh Hinrichs said he was thrilled with the way the Silver Hawks responded to the community’s need. Hinrichs advises the school’s FBLA chapter and began a food drive at Southwest in 2011. He said the project teaches students about community engagement, planning, organization and overall kindness.
 
“I am very proud of my students’ interest in and support of our event,” Hinrichs said. “The time my leadership team members gave up to promote the event on TV and radio and the time the members at large gave to help on the event day shows how much they care about the purpose of the event. I also appreciate when some of our alumni members come back during the event and donate.”
 
Hinrichs partnered with a local grocery store on Pine Lake Road in 2011 for a “Fright Hunger” event with his FBLA chapter. FBLA and DECA advisors from other LPS high schools joined forces with Southwest the following year. They determined they would send all of the items they collected from the “Food Blitz” community service event to People’s City Mission.
 
LPS students averaged 4,300 pounds of donated items during the first eight years of the drive. Hinrichs said those numbers began to significantly increase in 2022. The Food Blitz effort netted more than 9,000 pounds that year.

 
Hinrichs said some of the program’s recent success can be attributed to citywide communication. Students began promoting the event on local television and radio stations. They answered questions from professional journalists and were able to spread the word regarding the who, what, when, where, why and how of the drive.
 
“It has been a great experience for my students to learn how to represent our chapter and speak about an event to a broader audience,” Hinrichs said.
 
Groups from each school were then assigned to stand in front of store locations and hand out informational flyers to customers as they entered. The flyers listed items that PCM requested for its residents. Students asked customers if they would be willing to buy those products and place them in shopping carts outside for the drive.
 
Hinrichs said he watched many Silver Hawks develop important face-to-face conversational skills with local residents this year.
 
“This is a great experience for students, as communicating verbally with people they do not know is not something many of them have done,” Hinrichs said. “It is fun to watch the students step out of their comfort zone.”
 
Addison and Xavier said the activity also showcased the type of impact a simple smile can have on people. Multiple shoppers returned to the front of stores with full carts of items to donate.
 
“For this year’s Food Blitz event, I really enjoyed seeing how generous the community was with the donations they gave,” Addison said. “Many of them were more than happy to give food to a good cause, which was a great thing to see.”
 
“One of my favorite parts was working in the truck organizing food,” Xavier said. “Although stressful, it was fun to organize a whole cart full of groceries, only to see that there were another three to organize after. It was clear evidence of the ‘Nebraska Nice’ that Lincoln shows every day.”
 
The drive also has a good-natured competitive aspect to it, as each high school group tries to raise the most food in the city. Southwest and North Star FBLA chapters collected 3,941 and 3,237 pounds for the cause, and Southeast’s FBLA and DECA teams produced a school-record amount of 2,306 pounds. Standing Bear’s FBLA chapter also set a record with 1,819 pounds.
 
Harnoor said events like the Food Blitz are one way for LPS students to make life-changing differences during the holiday season.
 
“It is important to help our community because we are all one team,” Harnoor said. “You never know what your friends or neighbors are going through, and you never truly know the impact of what one can of food can do for a family. We are all trying to live life to the fullest, and everyone deserves the chance to thrive, not just survive.”
 
LPS students are learning many business, marketing and information technology (BMIT) skills through activities like FBLA and DECA. Read more about BMIT courses and student organizations at home.lps.org/cte/bmit and home.lps.org/cte/student-organizations.
 
Do you have a story idea? Share it with the LPS Communications Team by filling out this form!

---