In Reelsville, Indiana, a group of 4-H Junior Leaders is stepping up to help meet a critical need for volunteers.

At a recent Gleaners mobile food distribution, 4-H Junior Leaders worked alongside community partners and volunteers to help provide food to local families. While the work involved moving quickly from car to car, making sure food reached people efficiently, many of the students said their experience has become about much more than completing a task.

It has helped them understand the true meaning of community. 

For Xavier Dickerson, treasurer of the poultry club and a Junior Leader volunteer, giving back begins with understanding that communities work best when people support one another. He said volunteering has shown him that helping someone today can create a ripple effect that extends far beyond a single interaction.

“It’s important to give back to the community because they always give so much back to you, and there’s always people that are in need,” Dickerson said. “A lot of people actually don’t have access to good food.”

Dickerson said he learned that lesson through personal experience after seeing family members support one another during difficult situations. He said those experiences taught him that communities become stronger when people step in to help.

“You could always help someone out, and before you know it, they’re helping you without you even noticing,” he said.

Many Junior Leaders said described volunteering not only as a way to help others, but also as something that has changed them personally.

Corbin Schaffner, 15, said his interest in service began while volunteering alongside his grandparents at a food pantry down the street. Those experiences introduced him to the impact that food can have for families and children year-round.

“I really liked seeing the smiles on people’s faces when I was able to give them a whole ham when they weren’t able to afford it during Thanksgiving, and give them Easter baskets during Easter to give to the kids,” Schaffner said.

Schaffner said participating in Junior Leaders also helped him grow as a person. Beyond volunteering, he said the organization gave him opportunities to develop confidence and leadership skills that he can carry into other parts of his life.

“Being able to lead other people and also do stuff by yourself — learning that was really nice,” he said.

For Kipslynn Tincher, 17, volunteering has become a larger responsibility over the last three years. What began as simply showing up and learning the process eventually became helping newer volunteers find their place within the organization.

“I definitely got way more involved than I did my freshman year, so kind of helping everybody else that hasn’t done it before get to know and get used to what to do,” Tincher said.

Tincher also said volunteering exposed her to needs within the community that she had not fully recognized before becoming involved. Seeing long lines and large numbers of families attend distributions changed her perspective.

“A lot of people show up to these things, surprisingly,” she said. “Normally, we’re out of food before the time slot’s over.”

For Hannah Woodall, who participated in the distribution for the first time, joining Junior Leaders meant becoming part of something larger than herself. She said the experience reinforced the value of giving back to the community that helped shape her.

“It gives me a lot of joy just to give back to the community that raised me,” Woodall said.

Woodall said one of the most meaningful parts of the experience has been the relationships formed through Junior Leaders. Over time, she says the group has become more than a collection of volunteers working toward the same goal.

“The group of kids, we are really strong,” Woodall said. “We have strong relationships and it’s just a big family.”

Adults working alongside the students said they have noticed that sense of leadership and commitment developing as well. Frank Coffey, who helps lead the distribution, said seeing young people step forward during a time of heightened community need has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the effort.

“To see them step up, it really puts tears in my eyes to see people step up and saying: ‘we’ll help,'” Coffey said.

For many of the students, service began as a chance to help for a few hours on a Saturday morning. Through Junior Leaders, those experiences have become something much bigger: an opportunity to learn leadership by practicing it and to discover that showing up for others can strengthen an entire community. 

Gleaners is proud to work alongside dedicated community members, like the Reelsville 4-H Junior Leaders, who are making a massive impact in this ongoing fight against hunger.