Community Christian Academy to donate 10,000 meals to food pantry

It might feel like a marathon. Maybe it will even have some of the hallmarks of a telethon.

Regardless, Community Christian Academy’s “pack-a-thon” will be a special event to end the private school’s annual fundraising activities.

Administrator Renee Bell said this week that both students and faculty members plan to pack thousands of meals to benefit the food pantry at Pahrump Community Church.

“We have been in a fundraising mode and we’re asking friends, family and supporters for financial help and the pack-a-thon is our way of saying thank you to the community for their support. We will be packing macaroni and cheese. We will make about 10,000 packs to be given away by the community church’s food pantry,” she said.

The fundraiser was a simpler endeavor.

Families were asked to contact about 30 other families in the community for a nominal monetary donation.

Bell said the academy partnered with an area organization known as “Cornerstone” for this year’s pack-a-thon and fundraiser.

“They help other Christian schools raise funds and this was their idea. We sent emails and made many phone calls within the community asking for support. Cornerstone provided the meals because they have a supplier. This is the first time we have done something like this. We usually did the cookie dough and the wrapping paper around the holidays like other schools but this time we wanted something different,” she said.

It appears that the fundraiser paid off.

Bell noted that the academy raised thousands of dollars this year.

“We have raised about $15,000. We had a choice of putting together the mac and cheese or rice and bean packages. We went with the mac and cheese. The money will be used to spruce up our playground and we have building maintenance and technology issues that we need to address,” she said.

The administrator also said a few faculty members and roughly 100 students plan to have all 10,000 meals packed up in less than a day.

“It is all supposed to be finished in one day. It should take them about five hours and it will be quite a process. We are all very excited about that and looking forward to Friday. Between the students and parents, we should be set. It’s going to be very fun,” she said.

One parent who will assist in the effort is Ken Shockley whose daughter is a CCA student.

Shockley said he’s looking to free up his schedule on Friday to take part in the event.

“We are really looking forward to this and plan on trying to be there. Cornerstone was great in putting all of this together for our community and the school. I think it’s a win-win for all,” he said.