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Food Project's Student Hunger Strike Force meets tonight Tuesday Jan 17, 2017 at 10:41 AM Jan 17, 2017 at 10:42 AM The Medford Food Project is hosting a pizza night for high school students interested in joining a new Student Hunger Strike Force that could become a model for other communities throughout the nation. Interested students are invited from 5:30 to 7 p.m. today at St. Mary's School, 816 Black Oak Drive, Medford, to eat pizza and discuss creating volunteer jobs for students and the best ways to present them on campus. Goals of the strike force are to enlist high school students in a growing movement to feed hungry neighbors; provide simple but meaningful volunteer opportunities for students; teach students leadership skills and provide hands-on experience with organizing and overseeing community service programs; and create a replicable model that students in other communities can emulate. The Medford Food Project will sponsor student advisory groups of three to six students from North Medford, South Medford, Cascade Christian and St. Mary's School. As the program develops, students will help create video and print materials to promote their work and present programs to other students at their campuses.  Organizers of the Food Project hope the Student Hunger Strike Force eventually will include all Jackson County schools and become a model for high schools across the United States. The Food Project aims to provide a year-round supply of food to local food banks through a simple system using neighborhood coordinators and individual donors who supply one bag full of nonperishable food every other month. The program has grown since its inception in 2011 to more than 3,000 volunteers in Medford alone who donate, collect, sort and distribute food. The five Food Projects in Jackson County together have more than 7,000 volunteers and have collected more than 2 million pounds of food. For more information on the Student Hunger Strike Force, see www.StudentHungerStrikeforce.com.