In response to a plea for donations, the Eagle Eye News sponsored a donation drive for the Tyrone Area Food Bank at the middle and high school in December.
The drive turned out to be a major success with over 700 items donated to the food bank by Tyrone students and staff.
“After learning that the Food Bank was low on donations, the students in the fifth period came up with the idea to hold a donation drive at the school,” said Eagle Eye Adviser Todd Cammarata. “I would like to especially thank Nicole Ramsey, Alyssa Houck, Abby Anthony, and Sidney Goodwin for organizing and running the food drive. I’m really proud of these students for their leadership and hard work on this project.”
The Tyrone Food Bank has been struggling in recent months to support an influx of families in need and asked for the help of the community to get through the holiday season.
According to Tyrone Food Bank Treasurer Jean Bressler, the TASD donation was well-timed and appreciated.
“The donation was amazingly abundant,” Bressler said. “With it, we filled the shelves at the Food Bank. Thanks to the generosity of the students we were able to pack food for our clients for tomorrow. We also shared the single-serving items with the Northern Blair Backpack Program for their distribution.”
Bressler also noted that the food bank still needs donations and is currently low on canned pasta, baked beans, kidney beans, and canned tomatoes.
As an incentive to donate, the Eagle Eye also sponsored a contest for middle and high school homerooms, with the homeroom that donated the most items receiving donuts courtesy of the Eagle Eye.
In the high school, special education teacher Jessica Ellenberger’s homeroom collected the highest number of items.
Her homeroom class only has eight students, but they still managed to donate the most food items in the high school. They were determined to help those who needed it.
“I was impressed with the participation that my advisory students exhibited during the food drive. Initially, they were motivated in hopes of earning prizes, but soon realized that this drive was bigger than all of that,“ Ellenberger said, “I wanted them to know how important kind acts are for everybody, and this drive has greatly impacted not only the community but also the students participating as well.”
In the middle school, Dawn Whited’s fifth grade homeroom collected the most donations. These fifth-grade students took the food drive as a challenge and were excited to participate.
“My students were really excited for the challenge, but it wasn’t all about that for them,” Whited said, “We discussed what this drive was really about, and the importance of giving back during the holiday season. They were all in for the drive and I could tell it meant a lot to them.”
Both homerooms will receive their prizes next Wednesday, January 10.
