The Bird Feeder hired five new managers to run the food shelf this year following comments from previous years’ managers asking for more help, according to adviser Sophia Ross.

Ross said one manager, senior Mackenzie Evenson, was hired last year after taking a community service class and seeing last year’s managers at work. The others, juniors Maryan Omar, Kamia Guy, Sofia Roloff and senior Amina Dedefo, were hired later.

Dedefo said she looks forward to giving back to the community and decreasing the number of hungry students.

“I believe every kid and every person should be fed and clothed. This is the start of something big,” Dedefo said. “My goals for the Bird Feeder are to feed as many kids as possible and help as many families as possible.”

Guy said she wants to support more students and looks forward to the food drives.

“I’m really excited about helping all the families that use the Bird Feeder. Also, organizing food drives and making the Bird Feeder more known,” Guy said. “My goal this year is just to be able to pack the bags and help the families out.”

Ross said the managers are getting to know the systems and how the Bird Feeder works before they jump in.

“They’re going through all the management stuff, and they’re checking out all of our forms of communication, like our Facebook Page, our website, our Instagram account,” Ross said. “They’re looking at all that to see what’s been done in the past.”

Roloff said she plans to reach out to students more to make sure everyone who needs food knows how to get it.

“I really want to make the Bird Feeder a more popular name around the school and to make sure everyone knows who we are and what we do,” Roloff said.

Evenson said she wants to focus on the most-needed items.

“Our goals are to get the top 10 (items) back in stock and to help other people in the community,” Evenson said.

Ross said the Bird Feeder filled orders already this school year from teachers and social workers requesting “snack packs” for students to eat during the school day.

“There’s been a huge increase in the number of requests for snack packs — food students would eat during the day. They just put (it) in their locker for a week because they don’t have that option at home,” Ross said. “Our number one thing on our top 10 list would be healthy snacks, granola bars, things like that.”

Omar said she plans to work on improving the Bird Feeder every year to make sure students are well-fed.

“My goal this year is to make the Bird Feeder more exciting and more than what it was last year,” Omar said. “It was good last year, but (I want to) make it better every year.”

Ross said other goals include improving the program’s confidentiality and possibly expanding into other schools, such as the junior high.

For students looking to request food from the Bird Feeder, stop by the counseling office, pick up a request form from the counter and return the form to the slot behind the desk labeled “Bird Feeder Requests.” All requests are kept confidential at all times.