An elementary school in Maple Ridge collected just shy of 2,000 pounds of non-perishable food for the local food band – and that is just the start of their charitable efforts this holiday season.
Students at Yennadon Elementary were divided into pods with four classes in each to see what pod could collect the most for the Friends In Need Food Bank.
A Pod won collecting 286 items.
“It was really close though. The pod that was in second got in 270. So it was close, it was great,’ said Candace White, teacher librarian at the school, and organizer of the Yennadon We Team, the school’s leadership group.
Altogether the school was able to collect 1,720 pounds of food.
“We cannot thank the whole Yennadon community enough, especially the leadership team at the school, for their tremendous support of the Friends in Need Food Bank,” said general manager Evan Seal, noting the need is great.
“Only a year ago we would see, on average, 50-60 clients in our line-up at the main depot, today we had 110. Some days we’re close to 120 clients,” he said.
The drive was organized by the We Team, made up of about 15 leadership students, for the Friends In Need Food Bank’s We Scare Hunger Food Drive.
Every year the school collects food for the food bank, changing up the challenges. One year they made a path of food to see how far around the school the food would reach.
“The competition is always fun to go back to because it really gets the kids motivated to bring in more and beat another pod,” White said.
Now they are onto their next fundraiser.
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“We don’t wait,” laughed White.
Starting next week students at the school will be doing a teens and tweens gift drive for the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Christmas Hamper Society.
White explained she took her leadership students to the Christmas hamper society’s facility a number of years ago and they noticed the section for that age group was empty compared to toys for younger children.
“And we thought those kids needed a boost,” she said.
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In December the school will also be holding a Candy Cane Gram fundraiser, the charity still to be picked by the leadership students.
And a couple of days ago they held a doughnut sale in support of the Canuck Place Hospice in Abbotsford.
The group tries to stay abreast of the news to help the community where they can and are always thinking ahead.
They are also hoping to hold a book drive for students at Hazel Trembath Elementary, the school that was engulfed by flames and burned to the ground mid-October, when the school is finally rebuilt.
“So that students have a library to come back to,” said White.