Matias Soto is a senior at Wenatchee High School and over the summer he worked with the Wenatchee rescue mission. He’s been in Earth club since his junior year when it was first getting started.

He volunteered at a local rescue shelter where there’s lots of waste that comes out of food that’s not able to be used in the time it’s good by, so a majority of it goes to waste and Soto said, “I realized they have a system set up and while it works, there’s definitely things that we could build on it or make people more aware that it’s there.”

Soto explains how non-consumable food for people can be used for livestock. There’s a lot of great nutrients for the animals such as protein and carbohydrates.

It’s a great way for people who may want to compost more and or save money on cattle feed. Soto said,“Sometimes there’s not as much but usually, 9 out of 10 times there’s a bunch in the back right of the rescue shelter that you can go drive and pick up. There’s even ways to get in contact with people who run it.”

Soto brings up how there are some challenges when it comes to having people to help. It’s hard to communicate and bring people in especially when there may be a lot of people that have the capability to compost and or have livestock, might find a way to feed the animals and compost by themselves without the help of the rescue shelter.

“It’s been a struggle to find the people that might be interested,” Soto said, “which is kind of why I wanted to communicate with bigger groups; like apple leaf, to get it to the most people possible to see if anybody’s interested.”

Soto expresses how for him it gave him a sense of fulfillment from community service

“I would say you get something from community service and working for your community as well. There’s definitely a fulfilling purpose to your work and just as a person. I think it’s a really big part of what I hope to be everybody’s High School experience,” said Soto.