Cottage Grove teen raising money for Feed My Starving Children event at Park High School

• Trevor Burrell

Trevor Burrell

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Trevor Burrell wants to feed hungry children and he hopes others in the Cottage Grove have a similar appetite for volunteerism.

Burrell, a senior at Park High School this fall, is organizing and raising money for a food-packing event through Feed My Starving Children, the nonprofit organization that provides meals to youth in countries around the world.

Ahead of the Nov. 9 event at Park in Cottage Grove, Burrell is seeking donations from individuals, civic groups and businesses. He needs to raise $22,000, which will cover the costs of preparing, packing and shipping 100,000 meals.

So far Burrell said he has collected about $2,400 toward the event dubbed “Wolfpack Feeding the World,” but he is pursuing sponsorships and collecting more money with the help of a local restaurant. People who eat at Ruby Tuesday in Cottage Grove on Fridays through the end of October can help contribute to Burrell’s event; 20 percent of their food bill will be donated to the Feed My Starting Children event if they present a flier that Burrell is distributing. The flier is available at the Bulletin office, 7584 80th St., Cottage Grove.

Burrell, 17, is the son of Terri and Chad Burrell. He said he got the idea to bring the food-packing event to his high school after volunteering for similar events at Five Oaks Community Church in Woodbury. He said at first he didn’t think he would be interested in it.

“My mom quite literally dragged me out; I wanted to stay home and play video games,” Burrell remembered. “And then I was like, I really like this. There was a lot of energy.”

About 500 people will be needed to volunteer on the packing day in November. Volunteers work in shifts and at stations doing different jobs that are required to fill bags with grains and beans and then prepare them to be shipped. Burrell said he thinks he already has about 200 people who are committed to participating. It is a good event for the south Washington County community, he said, but he also hopes his classmates see the importance in taking part.

“We’re in high school and we’re just about to meet the world,” Burrell said. “So why not benefit the world before we’re out there?”

The project is a big undertaking for someone who has never organized a large volunteer event, Burrell acknowledged. And even though he is just starting his big fundraising push, Burrell is thinking big.

If people and businesses donate $44,000, Burrell said, they could provide 200,000 meals.

“The bigger we make it, the better,” he said.

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