By Lyvia Yan, Staff Reporter

On Saturday, Feb. 6, a branch of Key Club hosted the Stop Hunger Now benefit concert at the Tredyffrin Easttown Library. Seniors Julia Hess, Angela Nguyen and Sophia Wang largely organized the concert but received help from their adviser Leanne Pretz and other Key Club members during the setup and cleanup periods.

Hess, Nguyen and Wang have been involved in Key Club since their freshman year and have had a history of giving back to the community and getting involved in volunteer work.

“I just thought that volunteering would be fun but I didn’t know much about it. As I did Key Club for two more years, I realized that I loved helping out people, and it really opened my eyes to the different types of communities there are,” Wang said.

Hess, equally passionate about volunteering, devoted her time to the Stop Hunger Now organization last year during a meal-packaging event and was inspired to get ’Stoga students involved.

“Really it was Julia’s ideas since she had been to a packing event, and she was really touched by it. She wanted us to do it, so she suggested it, and everyone was behind it,” Pretz said.

Stop Hunger Now helps over 73 countries worldwide and combines rice, soy and dehydrated minerals into small packages. Key Club’s goal is to raise $3,000 to host a meal packaging event in the springtime that can provide about 10,000 meals, and the concert was able to raise around  $400.

“I’m passionate about this organization because I think it makes a serious difference. I know where the money’s going, and I know that we’re actually making a difference in the world,” Hess said.

The club plans on hosting a Krispy Kreme donut sale and an online fundraiser in the coming months.

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Lyvia Yan can be reached at [email protected].