Schoolchildren Ensure Happy Thanksgiving for Local Families

By Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
12:43AM / Thursday, November 27, 2008

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — More than a few North County households are passing the peas today thanks to the efforts of local schoolchildren.

From preschool to middle school, pupils in various grades have been collecting and bagging food for Berkshire Community Action Council North over the past few weeks. Last week, the youngest ones delivered boxes of food that were bagged up days later by older grades.

"This is wonderful. It made my Thanksgiving for people," said Marie Harpin, head of NBCA. "It's the community that has made Thanksgiving happen for so many families this year."

There was enough for 25 Thanksgiving dinners with all the trimmings and extra food to be doled out over the winter months — and for Christmas.

The children's involvement has grown out of the push for community service learning, strongly backed by Superintendent James Montepare. Classes at all grade levels have been encouraged to volunteer — from running food drives to reading to younger grades.

In addition to an estimated 2,000 pounds of food collected by Brayton Elementary preschoolers, Wal-Mart and Hoosac Bank donated gift cards and turkeys. Plus, the children raised more than $100. Nonperishables collected locally by the National Association of Letter Carriers a few weeks ago totaled more than 8,000 pounds.

On Friday, Sullivan School third-grader Jacob Pontier was busy giving orders to his classmates filling boxes full of bagged goods at NBCA offices at 85 Main St.

In nearby rooms, the rest of Joy Demayo and Anna Saldo-Burke's third-grade classes were putting together vegetables, fruits, stuffing and other ingredients for a Thanksgiving feast. "Make sure you're not putting all one item in a bag," cautioned Saldo-Burke as the children moved the packages along an assembly line.

"It's to give back to the community," said Demayo. "It's to show that even this small contribution can help our city."

Third-grader Darlene Ellis said she just wanted to help people; for Kirk Sumner it boiled down to a simmple fact: "To give people food."

A few days earlier, the Brayton preschoolers dropped cans and boxes they had collected into seperate piles in the hallway outside BCAC North.

"It proves that preschoolers can do community servicee learning," said teacher Dina Poplaski. "This is our second successful service lesson."

(Poplaski and Michelle Nicholas' preschoolers last year had put together a book and CD on getting ready for kindergarten.)

Harpin said the lesson was a particularly good one because the children were in a position see people coming in and out of the office.

"I'm really for this type of community involvement," said an appreciative Harpin. "The children really see it put into practice."

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