On September 17^th, students from Metea Valley and other local schools took a trip to the North Illinois Food Bank, where they got the opportunity to hold a press conference with NFL Kicker and CEO of the Goulden Touch, Robbie Gould.

During the press conference, students asked Mr. Gould a variety of questions, ranging from who his childhood heroes were to what his pregame rituals were. But the main topic of discussion was his charity, the Goulden Touch, which Robbie shows the utmost dedication to. When asked about his motivations for starting the organization he said “I started the Goulden Touch because as a kid I always wanted to run my own business. When I realized that I finally could, I decided that I wanted to help people with my company. I chose to make my company about stopping hunger because of the numbers. When I first heard that 1 out of every 5 people suffered from being hungry, I was shocked. I knew that something needed to be done about this.” Throughout the majority of the interview, Robbie Gould remained serious as he talked about his foundation.  He stressed the idea of helping others and pushed students to improve upon last year’s success, by donating more money and food than before.

When asked about what he thought of Robbie Gould’s influence on the school Junior Srijan Khare said “I think what he has started is great. He is pushing students to help others which is always a good thing and I think since the message is coming from such a powerful person it really will sink it.”

After the interview, students were allowed to take a tour of the North Illinois Food Bank and then were given the chance to volunteer at the facility which consisted of packing and labeling food products. Robbie Gould’s passion for helping others was undeniable to everyone in that room and he strives to get others to help everyone that they can.

Metea Valley held a fundraiser to raise food and money for Robbie Gould and the Goulden Touch, which.broke the record amount of donations for the Goulden Touch which was set last year. The fundraiser, which occurred until October 8, collected canned goods which were distributed to food banks and pantries all over Northern Illinois. Both this year’s and last year’s donation amounts have made the Goulden Touch one of the largest food raising charitable organizations in Illinois.

By Jake Gallucci