By NewsLine Staff
mail@floridanewsline.com
Bolles Lower School Ponte Vedra Beach Campus students recently collected more than 10,000 cans and nonperishable items for the MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation. A large covered U-Haul truck parked in front of the school Nov. 18 was completely filled with food, a visual reminder of the hard work students applied toward the charitable undertaking.
The 2016 drive was one of the largest in school history. Students were eager to support the initiative, which challenged them to solicit food donations from friends and family and also included a fitness participation component.
Coach Melissa Stone directed the fitness portion of the food collection, which required participating students to earn the amount of food they could donate through a running and physical activity challenge. During early November physical education classes, students in all grades ran laps for their can donations.
“Students really look forward to this event each year,” said Bolles Lower School Ponte Vedra Beach Campus Head Peggy Campbell-Rush. “Not only are students challenged physically, but they are also learning fundamental lessons in philanthropy and thinking about meeting the needs of others before their own.”
More than half of the food collected came from ConAgra Foods, which offered to match students’ collection, thanks to the direction of Bolles PVB dad and ConAgra sales manager, Chris Barksdale. Parent Stacy Philip, who led the food drive challenge, and parent volunteers dropped off the food Nov. 18 at the MaliVai Washington Foundation office. The foundation reported that 268 families have asked for assistance this year.
Photo courtesy The Bolles School
