This is the last week for a group of high schoolers working at Foodlink as part of the city’s Summer of Opportunity Program. 

The 16 to 18-year-olds who have worked hard this summer feeding the community got a surprise visit from Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren on Monday so she could tell them how much she and the city appreciated what they’ve done to help others. 

“Most people, they’re very unfortunate, so if you want to be that person, that nice person you got to go out there and help out the community to keep us strong,” said Arnold Koumassou of Fairport.

Koumassou goes to Fairport High School and is one of 15 young people who volunteered in the program this summer. They would pack the buses up with more than 200 meals per bus and give them out to people throughout the community. 

Mayor Warren and Foodlink Strategic Initiative Manager Joshua Wilcox say what the kids learned through this is what really matters.

“That’s what the Summer of Opportunity is about. Really having our young people work together to build each other up and working alongside people from our community,” said Warren.

"You really get to see their personalities bloom. They know the neighborhoods just as well as we do and it’s just really been an honor to kind of just sow seeds into the lives of our young folks,” said Wilcox.

Foodlink says this summer of COVID-19, there was even more of a need for the high schoolers to help in getting meals out to people. 

Now the food bank is getting ready to help feed people back at school.