Rome Reporter

This holiday season, students at Hopewell Middle School in Milton organized a food drive that amassed 5,700 items to help local families in need.

The secret to collecting that much food? First, a clever name for the food drive, “Food Fight.” Second, turning the drive into a grade-level competition. The sixth grade won out by bringing more to donate than seventh and eighth grade combined.

“[Sixth grade] ran with this competition and it was epic,” said Media Specialist Whitney Beck, who helped organize donated items in the media center and supported the students in their efforts. “Their hearts were so giving.”

Items donated included bottled water, meats, proteins, pasta and gift cards for groceries.

“It was really the gamut of everything that is needed to make a meal,” explained Assistant Principal Janelle Consola.

Families in need were identified at Hopewell Middle School and its feeder schools, and those families were able to privately shop at the temporary food pantry set up in Hopewell’s cafeteria.

After about 50 families were served with groceries and gift cards, staff filled two vehicles to donate the rest to continue to serve those in need.

“[We] donated it to one of our local church programs, First Baptist Church in Alpharetta, which helps refugee families,” said Beck. Consola oversaw the organization of the project as the student council sponsor. Members of the student council took the lead on making the food drive happen.

“Sixth and eighth graders made promo videos to be shown at lunch,” said Consola. “[It was] student owned. Once they knew what to do, they just ran with it.”

Said Beck, “This is the best we’ve ever done. It was very impressive.”

“I am so proud of our students, staff and community,” said Principal Michael LeMoyne. “The amount of food collected was more than we could have imagined, and the efforts that our students, staff and volunteers put in to get it all counted, sorted and distributed says a lot about the caring nature of our school community. This project just shows how much can be accomplished when the members of a school community work together.”

Original source can be found here