Classes compete in school food drive
The educators of Euchee Creek Elementary School say they want to do more than develop good pupils. They want to create good citizens.
Euchee Creek Elementary School fourth-graders Jessica Joseph, 10, and Ebony Williams, 9, make a bar graph based on how much food they collected for United We Care.
Photo by Donnie Fetter
"Becoming a good citizen begins as a child," Euchee Creek Elementary guidance counselor Pam Edmondson said. "The way you do that is by helping and serving others."
The pupils of Euchee Creek helped more than 100 Columbia County families on Friday by donating 1,815 items of food to United We Care, a Grovetown-based food bank, for its annual Thanksgiving food drive.
Classes competed against one another to raise the most food.
The winning teacher got a turkey doll and students received gift certificates to Golden Corral.
The top three finishers were Charity Rhodes' fourth-grade class with 164 items, Michelle Drake's fourth grade class at 145 items and Nikke Johnson's third-grade class with 140 items.
In the three years the school has sponsored the Thanksgiving food drive, a fourth-grade class has won.
"Fourth graders are at an age where they are more aware of the world around them and want to help," Drake said.
"We'll be feeding 155 families for Thanksgiving, and all of this food will help a lot of people," United We Care founder and operator Bill Campbell said.