GASPORT, N.Y. — There's been a little friendly competition recently at Roy-Hart Middle School. It's filling boxes, empty shelves...and filling a need in this small Niagara County community.
The Gasport Community Food Pantry, which is housed at Zion Lutheran Church, serves about 40 families each month. They rely solely on donations — there's no federal money or help from large food banks. Around the holidays, the shelves empty out pretty quickly.
The students at Roy-Hart Middle recognized the need and saw an easy way to help out and give back to their friends and neighbors.
They held a three-week school-wide food drive. Homeroom classes competed to see who could collect the most items.
There are only 375 students in the entire school. They ended up collecting 6,184 items — an average of 16 things per student.
"We wanted to help out the community," said 7th grader Gwynivere Fuller. "We wanted to make a difference because we're a really small school, but we can make a big difference because we have a big heart."
They tracked their progress with feathers on a paper turkey on each classroom door. They got one feather for every 10 items donated.
The top three classes got either a pizza party or donuts and cider, but students realize the effort was about more than getting a reward.
"You're helping other people out, and that was the most important part about it," said 6th grader Jackson Drees.
The students are learning important lessons that you can't get by studying a book.
"It makes me feel good because knowing we gave back to the community and it's November. Thanksgiving. That time of year. Not a lot of people have money to buy stuff," said 7th grader Lila Brigham. "You never know if someone is struggling or if they have enough."
The middle schoolers must have given the younger kids an idea, because Roy-Hart Elementary School is getting in on the collection action now too.
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