Wildcats ‘Pounce on Hunger’ this giving season
Students of Taft Elementary delivered donations to the Humboldt Food Pantry on Dec. 16. Independent photo by Kylie Portz. To buy this image, or more from our gallery visit www.humboldtnews.com.
Elementary Students donate 2,748 non-perishable food items to Humboldt Food Pantry
By KYLIE PORTZ
This holiday season, students at Taft and Mease Elementary are giving back to the community, donating nearly 3,000 non-perishable food items to the local food pantry through a schoolwide “Pounce on Hunger” food drive.
Taft Elementary Principal Ryan Fedders said, “We knew going into the holiday season that there would be many families in need.”
Each year, students at Taft Elementary collect donations for the Humboldt Food Pantry and place them under the “Giving Tree” an initiative that began with third-grade teacher Becky Allen.
This year, staff at Taft Elementary recognized a need in the community for food donations and decided to step up. School secretary Cassie Hartmann penned the catchphrase “Pounce on Hunger.”
Allen and Hartmann encouraged students by creating the “Battle of the Grades” challenge. A weekly battle where the class that collected the most donations each week received an extra recess and a traveling trophy.
Fedders said, “I know that the donations will have a huge effect on our local food pantry, particularly with items they were in need of. Each week, Cassie (Hartmann) would reach out to see what they could use most. Syrup, mac and cheese and mashed potatoes were a few items that were donated in huge quantities. Our hope is that the pantry can restock some needed items and really benefit families in our communities.”
Hartmann said, “They were in desperate need of pancake syrup. So, of course, a light bulb went off; we had to make pancake syrup as an item that would count as two items to boost points for that week.”
“After collecting everything that week, my heart was so full because of how the kids just took it and ran with it! We collected 220 bottles! As for the last two weeks, the bonus points were for boxed or bagged mashed potatoes or Hamburger Helper.”
She said, “We ended up collecting 443 mashed potatoes or Hamburger Helper in the last two weeks!”
Donations were collected throughout November with the “Battle of the Grades” starting on Nov. 3 and ending Dec. 5.
Read the full story in this week's issue of the Humboldt Independent!
