Cheyenne Frontier FFA members pose at St. Joseph’s Food Pantry with some of the items they collected.

A simple conversation sparked the idea for a community service project headed by the Cheyenne Frontier FFA Chapter’s Building Communities Committee. A goal of keeping the event engaging and entertaining for members involved inspired the chapter’s first Stuff the Pantry Pie Challenge.

Aiming to alleviate holiday stress and to provide non-perishable food items to Cheyenne’s St. Joseph’s Food Pantry, the oldest and largest food pantry in the state of Wyoming, members collected over 1,000 pounds of food for donation to the pantry.

Dion Tail (left), Cruz Medina (center) and Colton Wolski (right) pose in front of a pile of cans to be donated.

Cheyenne Frontier FFA Chapter Reporter and Building Communities Chair Danielle Mehtala says that her perspective of food insecurity shifted dramatically after she had a conversation with a fellow student at Cheyenne East High School.

“I hadn’t realized how big of an issue it was here in Cheyenne until a friend of mine told me of their struggles. It was shocking how big of an issue it is,” says Mehtala.

“But we didn’t want to do a traditional food drive,” says Cooper Miller, a committee member who helped plan the event. “We wanted to go above and beyond and get more students involved.”

So, they needed an incentive.

Pie the Advisor, Fill the Pantry

The incentive was simple. The member who contributed the most items to the chapter’s 500-item goal would have the opportunity to pie Mr. Joe Allen, their FFA advisor, in the face.

“That made me want to win,” says Emily Shuck, a chapter member who participated in the event.

Three members bring in their contributions to the challenge.

Over the course of a month, members of the chapter brought in various non-perishable food items, ranging from coffee to canned food. During the chapter’s November meeting, winners were crowned. The chapter’s goal was exceeded by nearly 300 items.

Two members, Cruz Medina and Emily Shuck, tied and had the opportunity to pie their advisor.

Cheyenne Frontier FFA advisor Joe Allen wears whipped cream in the aftermath of the Stuff the Pantry Pie Challenge.

After the event was completed, items were delivered to St. Joseph’s. Members assisted in processing the food and learned about the operations of a large-scale nonprofit.

“I learned so much,” says Samantha Duran, a freshman member of the Cheyenne Frontier FFA Chapter. “I really enjoyed getting to help out my community.”

Members organize food items at the St. Joseph’s Food Pantry.

All accounted for, the Stuff the Pantry Pie Challenge brought in 1,267 pounds of non-perishable food items, with members contributing over $600 in economic value to the service learning project.

Despite rousing success, committee members say that their work isn’t done. “Next year, we want to make everything bigger and better,” says Miller, who aims to continue to address food insecurity through future collaboration with St. Joseph’s Food Pantry.