A student-run effort at Oak Park and River Forest High School to help prevent food insecurity received a boost from the community June 25 when about a dozen people went on the record at the School District 200 board meeting in support of a proposal to spend over $157,000 to help fund it.
Students that are a part of the organization requested $157,000 from the administration to fully fund Students Feeding Students and expand its offerings to eight snack cabinets from four. The proposal also called for a more strategic place for an existing refrigerator to be stored, a district-funded procurement of snacks/food and a collaborative oversight model between Students Feeding Students and school operations.
Students Feeding Students members estimated about 1,250 students would take one snack five times per week totaling to about 6,250 snacks needed per week.
They said their entire budget was expected to be $157,199.72 for the 2026-27 school year. Besides the snacks, the funds would go towards cabinets/cabinet maintenance, food-safe bins, and a daily custodial stipend for OPRF staff who have to maintain the area.
Board members were seemingly in support of the $157,000 request, but wanted some alterations to the proposal and to flesh out some ideas. Some of the changes the board discussed included providing healthier options in the cabinets and ensuring students who are truly food insecure are able to access the food.
While no action on the funding proposal was taken, board members hoped they could have the money in place so that the operation could be back up-and-running by August when the school year resumes.
Students Feeding Students was started in May by OPRF student Nolan Krueger. It was initially funded by donations that eventually totaled over $11,000, including a $1,500 donation from state Senate President Don Harmon, who was born in Oak Park. Another $40,000 in grant funds tied to the project are pending, according to Students Feeding Students members.
They provided data showing how many students in the school use the snack cabinets after they were installed, and pointed out the school’s equity and student success’s action plan reads “ensure families receive non-education services in a timely manner to remove barriers which may interfere with their educational success.” Students not having access to food is a non-educational barrier that impacts their success, they said.
A survey conducted by the group’s members found that over 1,300 students across the school had been taking snacks on the sixth day that the initiative started in May. There was a team of students that monitored the snack cabinets and they found that all four of the cabinets had been empty before lunch periods.
Tristan Rogers, an OPRF alum and Oak Park resident, spoke at the board meeting in favor of SFS. While the district spends hundreds of millions of dollars on facilities at the district, to Rogers, funding the food insecurity initiative seemed like a “no-brainer.”
“When kids start a project to support their community, it is our job, as the adults in their lives, to help them see it through,” Rogers said.
Students Feed Students organizers recently developed a website at https://studentsfeedingstudents.org, where more information is available.
chardy@chicagotribune.com
