In the spirit of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, the Palmyra Student Council at Charles Street School gives back in its own way.
Until Feb. 14, Charles Street School teacher Stephanie Shubiak and council will collect cereal to donate to Palmyra’s Bread of Life Pantry.
“Student council knew that we wanted to do some sort of drive for Winter, either a food drive or a clothing drive,” said Shubiak of an effort that began earlier this month. “We decided that a food drive would be more fun, but the students were worried because in the past, when they were a part of food drives, people sometimes tend to donate what they’re not going to eat, so the food may not be the freshest.
“We thought about something that would be easy for everyone to get, something that could easily be tracked to see which class had the most and something that would be fun,” Shubiak added. “So we chose cereal.”
At the start of the drive, Shubiak and the student council set a goal of 100 boxes as a measure of success. But during the first week, the school received 82 boxes of cereal, and 171 boxes the second week, for a total of 253 boxes going into the drive’s last few days. Donations were made to the pantry weekly as cereal boxes began to stack up in the classroom.
“We were blown away by our results from the first week,” Shubiak noted. “We were shocked. Our goal was to collect 100 boxes, but I think we may have to reassess.
“This is our first year doing a Winter activity,” she continued. “We felt that we should do a drive in the winter because people sometimes experience more hardships during the winter and the holidays can bring up different emotions.
“We also realize that around MLK Day, this is a time to be inclusive and to help and bring kindness to others.”
For those who want to donate to the drive but do not have a child involved in the school, contact Charles Street School Secretary Susan Mason at [email protected].
