Villa Duchesne Teen Nourishes City With Feed St. Louis Project

On an intensely cold day in January, 17-year-old Katherine Godar stood outside of a  for hours collecting cans of food and monetary donations from shoppers as they entered and left the store.

The Kirkwood teen had long since lost her reluctance to ask for donations, and had overcome the initial embarrassment she felt as she wondered how her requests would be received.

Success has a way of building confidence.

Godar's food-raising project, which she named Feed St. Louis, has collected canned and nonperishable food items, as well as cash donations, for the St. Louis Area Foodbank since late 2010.  So far, she has individually collected more than 1,111 poinds of food and $2,675.39 for the Foodbank, feeding more than 22,292 people in the area with her efforts alone.

And she’s not done yet.

 in Des Peres will host the next canned food drive for Feed St. Louis, and Godar hopes to announce the date for that event in the near future.

LaCasey Milton, who works as the product donations coordinator for the St. Louis Area Foodbank in Bridgeton, said every contribution the organization receives is important, but Godar's efforts are remarkable because of the impact she's made as one person.

"We donate millions of pounds of food per year, and anybody who does a food drive for us is providing an immensely helpful service, but for a teenage high school student to take it upon herself to fight hunger on this level is amazing," Milton said.

Villa Duchesne's annual Christmas Basket Mass food collection effort inspired Godar to begin working on hunger relief as a charitable activity, but like many who participate in canned food drives during the holidays, she wondered about how needs are met during the rest of the year. Unlike many others, Godar decided to do something about it.

She rallied friends, family, students and neighbors to gather donations, and help host events. She also arranged for the St. Louis Area Foodbank to pick up the food donations at her home on a bi-weekly basis. The teen has reached out for help from local companies, such as Schnucks and , as well as community organizations such as the Incarnate Word youth group.

Godar says the message of her work is not only that hunger relief is important, but also that anybody can decide to help, and the decision to help on a personal level can have significant effects on the community.

"When I started this, I had no idea what it would turn out to be, or how much food I'd be able to provide, but after coordinating with a lot of people and organizations to feed 22,292 people in less than two years, I think the results show that one person can make a huge difference," Godar said.

Her work is not lost on the many people she's touched in the process of developing Feed St. Louis, not the least of whom is her mom, Gretchen Myers.

"Katherine is an inspiration to everyone she meets," Meyers said. "While Feed St. Louis is the most visible community service that she does, she also volunteers every Friday at Ranken Jordan Hospital, and has contributed over 2,000 hours of service to various organizations and charities. Watching Katherine inspires me to be a better person every day of my life."

Godar plans to launch a website to support her Feed St. Louis project soon, and she is looking for someone to takeover for her when she graduates from Villa and leaves for college in the fall. Godar expects to attend a college or university in California, or at one of a handful of East Coast schools she's applied to.

Wherever she ends up, charity will be a part of her life.

"I've been so fortunate, and giving back is very important to me," Godar said. "I keep Mother Teresa's advice in mind that if you can't feed 100 people then just try and feed one person, and that has helped me take things day by day, step by step."

Having personally fed much more than 100 people, Godar could possibly take it easy and enjoy her success thus far, but those who know her don't expect that to happen.

"Every time she works, there is a glow on her face and excitement in her voice as she talks about the wonderful people she's met and shows the barrels of food and cans, or money she's collected," Meyers said.

Email your Whiz Kid nominee to james.baer@patch.com. Your child could be the next to be recognized on Patch.