Small rural elementary school donates over 2,500 cans of food to local food banks - East Idaho News
Feel Good

Small rural elementary school donates over 2,500 cans of food to local food banks

  Published at

TETON – Several area food banks are getting a hefty donation thanks to the efforts of a small rural school.

Students at Teton Elementary in Fremont School District 215 donated more than 2,500 cans of food during a food drive. The philanthropy started the week before Thanksgiving and PTO member Andrea Morton tells EastIdahoNews.com she is pleased with the students’ response.

“We thought it would just a be a little thing that they brought in a few cans, but it’s been really heartwarming to see, especially for our community. We’re not from a very affluent or wealthy community. It’s a small town … and they really pulled together,” Morton says.

During a school assembly Wednesday morning, teachers and staff announced students would be getting a pizza party for their generous efforts and the classes with the most donations were awarded a prize as well.

Miss Kerbs’ third grade class of 19 students brought in 651 cans and teachers and staff are throwing them a catered movie party Thursday afternoon. At second place is Mr. Tavarez’ first-grade class, which brought in 643 cans. They’re having a doughnut and juice party Thursday morning.

“We’re talking about an elementary school that has 116 students, one class per grade,” says Morton. “It was very heartwarming to see that a small school could do something that larger schools have done.”

Morton says she was inspired to host a food drive at the school after hearing an advertisement on the radio about an increased need for donations at local food banks.

“I thought it would be great if we could help our students understand the importance of helping out with that,” Morton says.

All the food will be distributed to various food banks and causes Saturday, with the majority going to the North Fremont Food Pantry in Ashton. That’s the one food bank in Fremont County with the greatest need, Morton says. The other donations will be given to the Fremont County Mobile Food Pantry in St. Anthony and foreign exchange students at Brigham Young University-Idaho, who have requested food assistance over Christmas break.

A portion of the donations will also go towards Giving Tree families in the community. This is a separate program hosted by Teton Elementary every year that identifies families in the community who are in need. People can remove their name from the tree and sponsor Christmas for them.

Morton is grateful for everyone who helped the students with donations and says the school is planning to host another drive next year.

SUBMIT A CORRECTION