Episcopal School Third Graders Collect Food to Feed 385 Families
Third grade students at The Episcopal School of Knoxville collected 5,805 pounds of groceries for hungry people during the school’s annual food drive. This year’s collection is one of the largest in school history, exceeding last year’s total by nearly 700 pounds.
“Giving back to our community is a core component of what we do here at Episcopal School,” Lower School Director Nancy Laurence said. “Being able to give students a hands-on experience in serving others, while supporting their learning in the classroom, is a just one example of the interactive learning that happens at ESK.”
The 5,800 pounds will feed 385 families of four a three-day supply of food each, according to FISH Hospitality Pantry calculations. The rule of thumb is that 15 pounds of groceries will feed a family of four for three days.
At the K-8 Episcopal School, where every class spearheads a community service project each year, third graders have collected food items and hygiene products throughout the month of November for the last 18 years. This year’s increase was in large part due to collaboration between the third graders and middle school students and their mutual desire to increase the success of this annual event.
After distributing a collection box and a needs list to each class – requests for canned vegetables from first graders, canned meat from fifth graders, dried food like beans, pasta and rice from one middle school class – third graders visited every class in the school each day to collect donations. They weighed the groceries, recorded the weight and number of items collected and put the figures on a graph. Then, they packed it all for delivery to the FISH Hospitality Pantry located at 122 West Scott Avenue.
The grand totals were announced at a Thanksgiving assembly on November 20, just before school was dismissed for the holiday.
FISH Hospitality Pantry currently provides 11,000 food packages each month for the four Knoxville-area based food relief pantries.