ACKSON TWP — A group of Seneca Valley eighth-graders recently helped provide food to people in dire circumstances.

Six culinary arts classes at the middle school, including about 120 students, Thursday and Friday baked cookies to be donated to Mission From Mars.

Mission From Mars is a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization whose goal is to help homeless people get food, clothing and access to services so they can try to get back on their feet.

The students donated all of the ingredients needed to bake between 40 and 45 dozen snickerdoodle and chocolate chip cookies, said Debra Mitro, who has taught culinary arts in the district for 27 years.

Mitro said she heard about Mission From Mars from her daughter and thought it would be a good idea for the students to help out.

“It happened upon me. If somebody needs help and it's something my class can do, we jump into it,” she said.

The cookies were to be delivered to Pittsburgh's North Side, where Mission From Mars provides a free lunch for nearly 100 homeless people every Sunday.

The free lunches are offered to the 100 people that have the most significant needs, according to the group's website. They are served at noon outside Martin Luther King Elementary School rain or shine.

Many of the cookies also will be packaged and handed out to other homeless people in the city.

Homeroom teachers Luke Sample and Lara Difrischia collected ideas for inspirational quotes to accompany the packaged cookies.

The one they chose was from Fred Rogers, the Western Pennsylvania native and former host of “Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.”

It read: “If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”

Baking the cookies was one of the final recipes the students made for the class. Every eighth-grade student in the district takes introduction to culinary arts for seven weeks as it alternates with technology and personal development.

The students were happy to have a chance to participate, with many volunteering to bring in ingredients.

“I think it's nice because it's giving back to the community and people who don't have as much food as we do,” said Dana Walas of Harmony.

Christy Pendarvis, founder of Mission From Mars, said in an e-mail every donation helps and is appreciated.

“Mission From Mars is extremely grateful to have our local youth baking cookies for the homeless we serve weekly on the street of Pittsburgh. The homeless are so often the unnoticed or forgotten people of society. Something as simple as a homemade cookie, can mean so much to people who often feel like nobody cares,” she wrote.

To learn more about the group and how to volunteer, visit www.missionfrommarspittsburgh.com.