Franklin Regional junior Garrett Deller decided late last year to take his volunteer service with the Westmoreland County Food Bank to the next level, joining with fellow National Honor Society students to host a biweekly food drive at the Westmoreland Farms clubhouse.

Deller said his goal was to arrange for Franklin Regional Senior High School to serve as more of a central collection point, and that will begin with a Jan. 23 food drive, from 9 a.m. to noon.

“Kindness matters, and kindness is what we need most these days,” Deller said.

For those who wish to donate but can’t make it to the high school, Deller said he and fellow food-drive volunteers Ashley Au, Clayton Buell, Michael Campbell, Carter Dibert, Andrew D’Onofrio, Thomas Heiber, Nick Neuschwander and Taylor Vasos will arrange pickups between 2 and 5 p.m. Jan. 23.

Two additional food drives will be held at the high school Feb. 20 and March 20, and the group is close to having collected a ton of food for donation to the food bank.

Another local group reaching a food security milestone is Franklin Regional School District’s Backpacks-To-Go program, which recently marked its 10th anniversary. The program provides ready-to-eat or simple-to-prepare, child-friendly meals disguised as backpacks to supplement student nutrition on weekends and school breaks.

The program was started by former Heritage Elementary School counselor Anna Quiggle in 2010, initially only to serve Heritage students.

Over the past decade, the program expanded to every school in the district, with the help of donations from local businesses and organizations.

“When a student has been in need, our community seized the opportunity to offer both monetary and in-kind donations that have allowed the program to expand and make a lasting difference in the lives of local children,” district spokeswoman Tina Gillen said.

Donations to the program can be made by check, payable to “Heritage PTO” with “Backpacks-to-Go” in the memo line. They can be mailed to Jill Hopkins, 2647 Puckety Drive, Export, PA 15632.