100 days. 100 items of food.
That was the goal of Angie Smith’s kindergarten classroom at Happy Valley Elementary school.
Each year, the kindergarten classes across the county celebrate the 100th day of school with a variety of activities.
“Our goal was we wanted to collect 100 cans of food before the 100th day of school,” Smith said.
Smith also used the project as a learning experience for her students.
“One of our goals in kindergarten is to be able to count to 100,” Smith said. “So, every time someone brought in something we would count all the cans.”
In addition to canned goods, the classroom collected other types of non-perishable food for the drive. The children sorted the food into different categories — vegetables, fruits, starches, and sauces — as they learned about the various types of food.
“We also talked about nutrition, how many servings we need of what, and how important it is to have the foods we need,” Smith said.
Smith also talked with the children about hunger and the importance of giving to those in need.
“They were really concerned and wanted to make sure people weren’t hungry,” Smith said, adding the students wanted to know who would get the food and if they could meet them. “They wanted to help others. I thought that was really sweet. I have a very loving class.”
The food drive not only served as a fun and educational project for the students, but it also helped out a local business looking for ways to get involved in the community.
Smith’s husband Bryan Smith is a Life Coach at Silver Angels, a home health care organization.
“Since the inception of Silver Angels we’ve always looked for ways to contribute and make a difference in our communities,” Bryan Smith said.
Recently, Silver Angels decided that each of its nine locations across the state would hold year-round food drives to help better serve the needs of the community. Those program locations will then donate the collected food to food pantries in their own communities to be given to those in need. The Silver Angels location here in Elizabethton will be donating the food they collect to Assistance Resource Ministries.
And, for the nine Silver Angles location, some bragging rights are at stake with the drive.
“Every four months we will collect the poundage. The collections are weighed and we will have a winning Silver Angels location,” Jones said.
At the end of the year, the Silver Angels site collecting the most food will receive a trophy and will be crowned “Can Cuisine the Queen of 2017.”
On Friday, Jones and Bryan Smith visited Angie Smith’s kindergarten class to pick up the food the students collected and to thank them for their help.
“I want to say thank you because this food is going to people who really need it, and they wouldn’t have this food if you hadn’t brought it,” Bryan Smith told the students.
For more information on the Silver Angels food drive or how to help out, contact Silver Angels at (423) 543-1250.