Middle schoolers from the Brookwood School in Manchester recently organized a food drive that resulted in the largest single-day donation Beverly Bootstraps has seen in its history and donated 2,119 pounds of canned food to the organization.
In the midst of the pandemic, food banks have reported seeing a record increase in the number of people needing help. Roughly four in ten people visiting food banks had not received food assistance before the pandemic. Moved by this sobering information, Fifth Grade students at Brookwood spearheaded a food drive benefiting a non-profit in their backyard, Beverly Bootstraps, in order to fill the gaps in supply due to the increased demands. The students learned about food insecurity and sought to fill those gaps in supply.
As part of the program, the fifth graders taught younger students about food insecurity and then called on the entire school community, including the Parents’ Association, to “fill the bus” with food. In the end, they raised a record amount of donations.
Deb Plozay of Beverly Bootstraps remarked, “All the planning, teaching, encouraging, inspiring… it filled our shelves! So grateful to be the recipient of (Brookwood’s) great efforts!”
