Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Catholic Charities Maine was the recent recipient of more than 1,000 non-perishable food items that were collected at Presque Isle Middle School.
“The Civil Rights Team sponsored a Feed the County Food Drive,” said Allison Reed, adviser of the Civil Rights Team. “The goal was to get the homerooms involved, so we held a competition. Anytime we have some type of competition where there’s a reward at the end, you can really motivate middle-schoolers to participate.
“We put boxes in each of the homerooms throughout the entire school, and had just two days of collection – March 27 and 28,” she said. “The night of March 28, we held the Feed the County Fiesta, which was a school dance. Students had an additional opportunity to bring in a non-perishable item and they received $1 off the admission to the dance. Those items were also placed toward their particular homeroom, and the homeroom that collected the most items received a pizza party sponsored by the Civil Rights Team.”
Eighth-graders Alecia daCruz and Christina Hallowell, both members of the school organization, helped place collection boxes in the classrooms.
“We would go into the classrooms either in groups or as individuals and pick up the boxes, bring them to Mrs. Reed’s office and count the food items and tally them up on a sheet,” said daCruz.
Between the food drive and the fiesta, the students collected 1,036 non-perishable food items. More than half of the items were brought in at the dance.
“Everyone is experiencing tough times right now because of the economy,” Reed said, “so the fact that kids were able to bring in a canned good to help out, is great. It also helped them out because they received $1 off the price of admission.”
“We helped the people with Catholic Charities Maine pack up the food,” said Hallowell, “so we got to see just how much food was brought in. They were pretty big boxes, and we had to make a few trips out to the truck.”
The event was well publicized in the school.
“We made more posters this year,” said Hallowell, “and we made announcements about it, so more people knew about it, and a lot more people brought in food this year.”
“We did the food drive and fiesta last year, too,” daCruz said, “and I think this year’s went better. Last year we kept track of pounds, which was harder to do. Keeping track of the number of items was a lot easier to count.”
The girls said they were pleased to help out such a worthwhile cause.
“It was good to learn about helping people and collect a lot of food and give to somebody who really needs it,” said Hallowell. “It made me feel good to help out. While we don’t necessarily know who will be receiving the food, it still feels good to know that we’ve been helping people, and we had fun while we were doing it.”
“I was surprised at how much food we collected,” daCruz said, “because not many students want to get involved, but it was good because it helped kids realize that other people need things. It was a good chance for us to get out there and help the community and give back a little bit.”
Vicki McCurry’s eighth-grade homeroom won the pizza party by bringing in 166 food items.
This was the third year the Civil Rights Team has sponsored the school food drive/fiesta.
“When you watch the news and see the local food pantries requesting extra help,” said Reed, “any chance you get to encourage youth to give back to the community and get involved with a project like this is outstanding. It’s a great way for kids to give back, and it’s something I plan to continue doing at the school.”
According to the Catholic Charities Maine Web site, in 2006, 23,260 people were served through the 21 food pantries that were served from the Catholic Charities Maine warehouse in Caribou.
“We had 4,896 volunteer hours and seven truck loads of food trucked to Aroostook County by local trucking companies at a cost savings of over $70,555 to our program,” said Dixie Shaw, program director for Catholic Charities Maine/Aroostook Home Supplies and Food Bank. “We purchased food at Good Shepherd Food Bank with very limited dollars and all other food was donated by businesses individuals and organizations.
“Food and monetary donations are accepted and appreciated at any time,” she said. “We can purchase five boxes of cereal at Good Shepherd Food Bank for $1 which allows us to stretch our limited dollars as far as possible.”
For more information on the local food distribution center, call 498-2575.
The Feed the County Fiesta also benefited a local family. Reed said the chaperones at the school dance all agreed to donate their pay to Matt Henderson, who has been diagnosed with an inoperable form of stomach cancer. Henderson’s son, Codie, is an eighth-grader at Presque Isle Middle School.
“The Civil Rights Team also agreed to make a donation,” said Reed, “so collectively we were able to donate $300 to the Hendersons.”
Photo courtesy of Presque Isle Middle School
PRESQUE ISLE MIDDLE SCHOOL’S Civil Rights Team sponsored a Feed the County Food Drive recently. Boxes were placed in all the homerooms and the homeroom that collected the most food was treated to a pizza party. In addition, the night of March 28, the Civil Rights Team sponsored a school dance. Students who brought in a non-perishable food item received $1 off admission. Between the food drive and the dance, the students collected 1,036 non-perishable food items that were donated to Catholic Charities Maine. Shown packing the food into a vehicle are members of the Civil Rights Team.
