Noah Duckett and Wyatt Ehrhardt started their food drive in 2024, the same year they finished high school. Two years later, the initiative they began in a Wisconsin town has grown into a national network and earned one of the most prestigious youth honours in the world. Duckett and Ehrhardt, both now college sophomores, have received The Diana Award for co-founding Meals Matter, a student-led non-profit that fights food insecurity.
Starting small in Middleton, the high school students initially started the food drive on a much smaller scale. The idea was simple: collect food from neighbours and get it to families who needed it. Their first drives filled bags and boxes, and the work continued long after the first month. They initially called it Middleton Meals Matter. At the time, they wanted to do something bigger than a school project but weren't sure what. Clothing and food were both options. They chose food. Food insecurity in Wisconsin had reached a 30-year high, and they wanted to do something about it.
In the initial months, they organised food drives and handed the collected items to WayForward Resources, a local food pantry that stored and distributed the donations. Grocery stores became regular partners. They later added themed events such as Halloween for Hunger and Summer Stock-Up. These events gave students a reason to show up again and again.
As the drives became popular, students from other schools also showed interest. They wanted to know how to run their own drives. So Duckett and Ehrhardt built a structure to help new students get involved and expand the programme. Under their leadership, the non-profit has raised more than $550,000 through monetary and food donations and grown to more than 35 high school chapters, with over 3,500 young volunteers supporting chapters across the United States and South Korea. The students also met with state lawmakers to discuss policy options for fighting food insecurity. Members learned to speak in public, presenting to students and community groups about why hunger needs attention. The group later became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation.
Recognition Noah Duckett and Wyatt Ehrhardt have also received recognition for their work. They won the 2026 William R. Simms Award for Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy. They have now received The Diana Award, which recognises young people who tackle pressing problems in their communities.
"Winning the Diana Award means a lot to me. Meals Matter began as a local effort to help our neighbours in Middleton, and today it's a national organisation helping feed families in communities across the country and overseas," Ehrhardt said. "This award belongs just as much to our volunteers and to the community members who show up at our food drives and events to help fight food insecurity. I hope this shows other students that you don't have to wait until you're older to lead. You just need to decide to act and trust that your community will have your back. Ours always has."
Duckett said the win was "one of the biggest honours" of his life. "When we held that first food drive in Middleton, I never imagined it would turn into a national network of more than 35 chapters, all led by students who saw hunger in their communities and refused to look away. Every meal packed and every chapter launched came from young people who believed they could make a difference, and this award belongs to all of them. It shows what one idea can become when people commit to it. Representing Wisconsin, and especially Middleton, means everything to me. This is where Meals Matter started, and I hope every student here knows that the next big idea could be theirs."
