Our History

Food4Thought began as a class project in 2006 by Dr. Judy Hall and 11 Hastings College education majors. The HC students were student teaching in the Hastings Public Elementary schools when they noticed that some of the children in their classrooms were tired, grumpy and having difficulty focusing on Monday mornings. After further investigation, the HC students learned that many of these children qualified for the Free and Reduced Lunch program. Because their families had limited access to food on the weekends, these students were returning to school on Monday having barely eaten over the entire weekend. The HC students began to bring non-perishable food items to send home with these students on the weekend, helping relieve some of their negative behaviors within the classroom.

As the graduation of the HC education majors that founded Food4Thought approached, the students worked to find a permanent home for the new unique and important program. The Hastings College Child Defenders, supervised by Dr. Stephanie Furrer, assumed leadership of the group in 2007, after which Food4Thought become the stand-alone entity that is still in operation today (under the Faculty Sponsorship of Dr. Nicole Muszynski since Fall 2021).

We are now a fully functioning non-profit organization (thanks to our partnership with Open Table) with our packing and distribution center located on the Hastings College campus.

We love what we do and the community we serve!