Shields fifth-graders hold food drive

Gail Drummond’s fifth-grade class at Shields Elementary School listened to a presentation by Chad Robinson, Food Bank of Delaware director of strategic initiatives, and decided to take action. The students were surprised to learn that hunger existed in their area.

After research and discussion, the students chose to launch a schoolwide food drive for the Food Bank of Delaware to help families in need during the summer months. Students designed and distributed fliers for all the classes at the school and decided to give speeches to their peers to explain the importance of the food drive. Several students gave up their recess time to collect the food from various classrooms and assess their inventory.

The students also decided to offer an ice cream party to the class that collected the most food. Fifth-grader Rachel Ramjattansingh said, “What helped our food drive was reaching for a goal. The contest made more food come in from each class, and it motivated people to bring in food.”

The students collected 535 food items for the Food Bank.

Robinson said, “I think that if we could motivate adults to think about hunger as much as these kids did, the world would be a different place. I have hope for the future of the country when I see the effort these kids put in.”