Unlike most feuds, this one has a happy ending. The 17th annual Feud for Food donation numbers are in, and Southern Middle School’s eighth grade “White Team” came out on top.
Their privilege for winning? Being allowed to unload all of the school’s 41,000 collected food and nonperishable items at the God’s Food Pantry on South Central Avenue.
Jeremy Cole, Southern Middle School teacher and a trustee for God’s Food Pantry, said the winning team brought in 9,786 items, with the seventh grade “Blue Team” a close second with 9,413 items. That second-place team had the honor of loading the food and water onto the bus back at the school.
James Cox, SMS teacher and “White Team” teamleader, said, “Our kids worked very hard on this. It’s a friendly little battle to see who can collect the most.”
Cole pointed out the theme for this year was “Stuff the Bus,” but the school ended up with a bus, a trailer and five pickup trucks worth of stuff.
He said the food drive was a good activity for the kids, and wasn’t put off by the apparent chaos of the kids unpacking trucks in the pantry’s parking lot.
“I love it. I think it gets our kids involved in the community. It’s a joy to watch them work,” he said.
God’s Food Pantry Director Brenda Russell, who viewed part of the unloading from the safety of her office, called it “amazing” to watch the kids on the security camera.
“That was so much fun to watch. The kids were having fun, and honestly it was like looking down on an anthill,” she said of the commotion and activity.
Russell said the fact that the students worked so hard was a testament to the way the school teaches them.
“It comes from the leadership down. The kids, they just reflect what the leadership instills in them.”
The school’s leaders even helped with the off-loading, as SMS Assistant Principal Dwight Richards was on hand Tuesday at the pantry.
“I’m really proud of our kids. They worked hard,” he said, adding that students from all different backgrounds came together to help the community.
He added that the kids wouldn’t have been able to achieve their goal if it weren’t for all the help from their parents.
Amid the students handing water off to each other, eight grader Claire Edwards took time to tell the Commonwealth Journal that she wasn’t surprised by how much was donated.
“We’ve got a good group of people,” she said. Some of her classmates even donated food themselves or gave money towards the cause.
“Even if its just a $1 it gets put to use,” Edwards said.
She added that she didn’t realize how much need there was in the community until she entered middle school and learned about it.
And as much as it warms Director Russell’s heart to see the donations coming in, she said she knows the families of some of those same kids may use or have used God’s Food Pantry’s services.
She reminded that, statistically, one in four families in Pulaski are below the poverty line.
Russell said the “Feud for Food” drive last year helped her tremendously, and that their November donations kept the pantry’s shelves stocked in canned food until the end of March.
But while holiday donations are welcomed, Russell reminded the public that children go hungry year-round, especially in the summer months when school is out.
“I don’t want people to think we don’t still have a need,” she said. “Hunger doesn’t just happen in November and December.”
