By James Massara
News director
One Colonel Crawford student spent his entire summer last year trying to collect food for people in need, and now is attempting to continue to help others with a scholarship at stake.
Ken Fernandez is a senior at Colonel Crawford High School and took summer classes so he would be able to be dual enrolled at North Central State College in Mansfield.
While taking the classes, Fernandez also was busy at work on his Eagle Scout project.
Fernandez began hoping to collect 100 brown paper bags full of food to donate to local food pantries in Crawford and Richland counties. His plans changed, however, when he collected 107 bags in his first weekend of collecting.
According to a report he wrote on the experience, Fernandez said he changed his goal from 100 total bags to 100 bags from each town he collected in.
His reasoning for the project was many food banks were out of food due to sending supplies to victims of natural disasters.
“Everyone thinks to help organizations at Christmas, but never during the summer months,” Fernandez said. “This past summer was the worst due to the hurricanes. Local food pantries in our area were critically short due to not getting their normal donations from Cleveland Food Banks. The Cleveland Food Banks were sending their supplies to help the people of Texas.”
Fernandez sought the help of multiple local organizations and attended many local events such as the Bratwurst Festival, Bucyrus First Fridays, Galion Third Fridays, Crestline Farmers Market and more.
He then decided to try to help those both near and far directly.
Fernandez hosted two Fill-The-Jeep events to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey and the victims in North Robinson affected by a tornado.
According to his report, Fernandez collected more than 15,000 pounds of food.
“I had 15,183 pounds of food in the downstairs of our home. Each room of our house changed its name,” Fernandez said. “The computer room was now the Bucyrus room, the dining room was the Galion and Shelby room, the living room was Crestline and New Washington room and the kitchen was called North Robinson room. A map was almost needed to get around.”
With the results of his endeavor, Fernandez applied for a scholarship through Mechanics Bank. Seven $1,000 scholarships will be awarded based on votes the students receive on the Mechanics Bank website.
Fernandez is competing against 13 other students, but is the only student in a Crawford County school.
Voting on the contest by Mechanics Bank may be found here.
Voting ends March 31.