Cooking with Care: Tackling Food Insecurity One Meal at a Time

Upper St. Clair High School junior Rasika Khedikar is one of those changemakers. Defining food insecurity as “lacking nutritional value” or lacking access to “home-cooked, healthy meals,” Rashika has taken on the issue head-on. After visiting family in India during her freshman year, she said she was deeply impacted by the hunger she witnessed. Her solution: Cooking with Care, a student club that cooks, packages and donates nutritious meals to those in need.

Club sponsor Jessica Peconi defines food insecurity as the inability to get good food from a “financial, time or geographical perspective.” A professional chef and culinary arts teacher since 2017, Peconi has seen firsthand the amount of food wasted every day in both the food service and education industries. 

Rasika and Peconi joined forces during Rasika’s freshman year to form Cooking with Care. “It's important that when we’re teachers who have clubs to really make sure it’s student centered,” said Peconi, who takes more of a guiding role in the club, while empowering Rashika to lead. “Rasika is the one coming up with ideas, leading the projects, and executing her vision.”

To reduce waste even further, the club often uses leftover ingredients from Peconi’s culinary classes, taking an even more sustainable approach. Meetings typically involve 10-15 club members writing notes to attach to each package, cooking meals, or packing food for distribution. Food drives are held regularly to collect ingredients for cooking sessions, during which 30-40 boxes of meals are produced. 

To deliver, Cooking with Care partners with 412 Food Rescue, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that redistributes surplus food throughout the region. 412 Food Rescue has a network of more than 700 food donors and 400 nonprofit partners to ensure food gets to those who need it most. Once Rasika reports how many meals the club has prepared, 412 matches the donation with a recipient organization. During the high school’s Academic Resource Time, 412 Food Rescue trucks arrive at the school to pick up and transport the meals. 

Becca Simon, the Food Donor Relations Manager at 412 Food Rescue, says that the organization’s mission is to “end food waste by turning surplus into sustenance, strengthening communities and protecting the planet.” Simon works closely with Rasika to coordinate donations. “By rescuing surplus food, we are able to tackle both the issue of moving perfectly good food away from the landfill and back to communities in need,” she said.

For Rasika, the most rewarding part of the club is seeing the impact firsthand. One experience that stood out was receiving a heartfelt letter from a meal recipient, thanking her for all of the food. Rasika was touched and honored that her small club was making such a wide impact. Peconi added, “that has been just an awesome thing – for students to see the full reach of their work and realize how powerful their efforts are.” 

Looking ahead, Rasika hopes to continue Cooking with Care when she heads to college in two years. “I know trying to solve food insecurity is a really big problem,” Rasika said. “But, doing something in the community is better than doing nothing.” 

Peconi shares that sentiment, emphasizing the importance of service projects at such a critical time in their lives. “Whether you’re a student or an adult, there’s always a purpose beyond ourselves, and beyond us as a school.”

According to Simon, 412 Food Rescue has collected more than 1,781 pounds of prepared meals from Cooking with Care, all delivered to St. Thomas More Manor in Bethel Park. The impact Rasika and Peconi have had, and will continue to have, on their community is undeniable. 

Cooking with Care is just one of many projects that reflects the compassion and leadership that define Upper St. Clair students, demonstrating how small efforts can make a big difference.

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This article was written and photos were taken by USCHS sophomore Claire Birmingham, an active member of Student Council, the Speech & Debate team, the school’s gifted education program, girls basketball team, and flag football team. Claire is considering a future career in the marketing or communications field.