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Struggle, desperation and fear seemed part of the story behind the house-shaped coin bank Kara Klinker, 17, made to collect money to feed the hungry.
While in art class at Northrop High School on Thursday, Klinker pointed to a crack in the roof and said the imaginary family that lives in her house attempted repairs but failed.
The house also features a spider, a bird and a dog because Klinker said hunger affects more than the family.
“Like, it’s a big deal for more than just one person,” Klinker said.
Her “Hunger Home Bank” is part of a fundraising project Northrop High School announced Thursday that will benefit Community Harvest Food Bank, a non-profit organization that has seen its shelves go bare as demand for food and basic supplies increase throughout northeast Indiana.
Later in the day at Community Harvest, Mike Schatzlein, CEO of Dupont Hospital and Lutheran Health Network, upped the network’s donation to the food bank from $15,000 to $20,000, using a marker to change the amount on a giant check payable to the food bank.
During a network meeting, Schatzlein said the decision was made to donate the money intended for holiday presents for the network’s doctors and administrators to Community Harvest.
The donation will provide about 65,000 meals to the hungry.
“Food is the most basic medical need,” Schatzlein said.
The Northrop project involves collaboration among students, college students and local artists, according to art teacher Scott Dercks.
Some students, like Klinker, are making coin banks shaped like houses that will be used to collect money from students and staff for Community Harvest, according to Barb Ahlersmeyer, Northrop’s principal.
Northrop’s students will also make ceramic tiles, and college students from Huntington University and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne will make bowls that will be used during a Nov. 19 dinner and silent auction, Dercks said.
The dinner will be a simple meal consisting of soup and bread, and all proceeds will benefit Community Harvest, officials said. Ticket-holders will keep the student-crafted bowls and tiles in which their dinners are served.
Huntington North High School will also help with the project, and Northrop will host a can drive in conjunction with other Fort Wayne Community Schools, Ahlersmeyer said.
Dercks, who said 500 to 1,000 bowls could be available for the Nov. 19 dinner, said all the project needs to be successful are people to buy tickets and more donations of work by local artists, which will be sold at the dinner’s silent auction.
At the start of the coin bank project, Dercks shared research about hunger with his students to help them design their projects, Klinker said.
Klinker, who lives with three cats, a dog, fish and three frogs, said she wondered how pets are affected when a family faces hunger, and that concern translated into her clay bank’s unique design.
“It’s more trying to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes.”
bmanley@jg.net
