Friday the 13th usually carries an unpleasant reputation — as it is synonymous with bad luck and unfortunate events — but Friday, Dec. 13, was a day packed full of success for the Athens Rotary Club, as they completed their annual signature service project.

“This has become the marquee event for the Athens Rotary Club,” Griff Redmill, president of Athens Rotary Club, told The News Courier. “The need for this project has continued to grow every year, and it really does make a huge impact in our community.

The Full Tummy Project — in collaboration with several local churches, Athens City Schools and the Make A Way Foundation — is an initiative that aims to provide essential nutrition to food-insecure children while they are out of school.

To bridge the nutritional gap over the weekends for those students who rely heavily on school-provided lunches as their primary meal source, the project provides an individual bag of food packed by volunteers.

This past Friday, droves of Rotarians and Make A Way Foundation members gathered at the Athens Activity Center for the meal packing event that saw 1,284 bags get packed with valuable nutrients provided by Hometown Market.

“It takes a lot of coordination to complete this, after staging the food — it’s all a matter of how many volunteers we get,” Redmill said. “We are so fortunate to live in an area that supports efforts like these, we’ve received help from all over. For Rotarians, this is what it is all about. Giving back to your community and filling the gaps for those areas in need is our obligation as Rotarians.”

Redmill also took the time to highlight the work of Cady Stewart, the chairwoman of service projects for the Athens Rotary Club, who helped coordinate and organize the meal packing event.

“This project directly benefits the kids that live in the city of Athens,” Stewart said. “Each bag is packed with a full weekend in mind, so it’s going to have all of the nutrients needed to tide them over until they go back to school. This is a super special way for us to give to the kids that live here — because they are going to play a big role in the future of our community.”

Stewart added that she called on the help of the Athens High School football team to help unload the heavy produce from a large U-Haul truck — and they responded in full force. According to Stewart, 20 Golden Eagle football players arrived in the early morning hours on Friday to help unload and stage the food to be packed.

“They unloaded everything really fast, really efficiently and with fabulous attitudes,” Stewart said. “Truly everyone that I’ve worked with so far has been phenomenal in showing up for these kids. It’s a huge joint effort that could not have been possible without the help of every single individual involved in it.”

The Athens High School jazz band also performed while the volunteers packed each bag, some of which even joined in on the meal packing after the performance concluded.

“I’m not surprised with the showing we’ve had, this community has always stepped up for those in need,” Athens City Schools Superintendent Beth Patton told The News Courier as she helped pack canned ravioli and peanut butter crackers into the bags. “We have a lot of students that benefit from the Full Tummy Project. With the Christmas break coming up soon, there’s going to need to be some extra food sent home with them, so this is a tremendous help with that.”