Jim Fair
Fourth graders from Lyman Elementary School pose for a photo in GreerToday surrounded by 5,235 cans of food they collected for the Soup Kitchen. some of the stacks of food are taller than students.
When the “Read to Feed the Hungry” program was introduced as a class project, 120 students decided they would deliver more canned goods to the Greer Soup Kitchen than any other before them.
Standing for a group photo in GreerToday at the Soup Kitchen, representatives of the group were overshadowed by stacks of their donations standing higher than some of them. The class donated a record 5,235 cans of food and read another record 1,157 books.
The deal was students would get pledges of canned goods for each book read over a two-week period. “They also learned about the homeless and poverty,” said Patti Simmons, a teacher at Lyman Elementary.
Margaret Weber is a fourth grade teacher with a son, Drew who is in the fourth grade. “I’m a proud teacher and mom,” she said. “The students watched videos and saw there are hungry people.”
The ready to eat food was delivered to the Middle Tyger River soup kitchen. “There cupboards were bare and the food helped a lot,” Weber said.
BY THE NUMBERS
|
2 |
Weeks of food drive |
|
120 |
4th grade students participated |
|
1,157 |
Books read |
|
4.5 |
Cans of food average per book read |
|
5,235 |
Canned foods collected. New Lyman Elementary record. |
|
*3,200 |
Last year’s record canned goods collected |