The kids in our class brought in over 500 pounds of food for a school food drive. That’s a lot of food, by the way. Picture an upright piano made of canned goods, shaped with bags of beans, rice and flour. My partner teacher and I thought it would be fun to throw out a 500-pound goal, thinking there was no way we could ever reach it. Not with 8 oz. cans of soup and such. After suggesting we would sponsor a Friday night party should the goal be met, things started happening. Every few days we would weigh the food that came in and add that weight to the original figure. As the days went on things looked good for us, we were in the 200s and felt quite sure Friday would remain “flop-on-the-couch” Friday, for us teachers anyway.
Then, the parents must have started plotting because for the next few days entire shrink wrapped cartons of canned goods, five pound bags of dried goods, Sam’s Club sized cans of stewed tomatoes and dusty back of cupboard items poured in like the endless buckets full of water carried and dumped in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice“. Children were giving one another pep talks and pumping up the group to bring in more food. They attempted to arrange a 6pm meeting at Pick ‘n Save with parents who they would try to talk into buying just a few additional cans.
The last day of the drive finally came and our total was 490 pounds. That was a relief. No party, no twelve-hour day. We teachers were lucky and we knew it. Ironically, however, just before the last minute of the last day of the food drive a voice came through the old wooden speaker box announcing that the collection would be extended one more day, and that students had until Monday to bring in food and wasn‘t that great. My partner and I looked at one another and I mouthed,”Oh, crap.”
An assembly was held during which our students very proudly pushed in their new total, 509 pounds of food. We needed an additional cart for all of our donations. The class had done well, they knew it, and that was definitely a source of pride. They had worked together and accomplished a goal.
Well, we had the party last night and as the parents dropped the children off they thanked us for the gesture, for the excitement their children were feeling, and for the two free hours about to be enjoyed. Some of them expressed to us that we may have a few screws loose and joked that they would be back to pick their kids up the next morning. Funny.
We had a lot of fun in the end, did the limbo, had a bubble blowing contest, ice cream and dance party. One of the kids from the high school who shaved his head to collect money for the Cancer Society stopped by. He came in and spoke to the class before he had his head shaved, explaining to them how he was donating his hair for a cause, that it was something he could do to help if even just a little. Now he was back and had a head like a spiky mountain ridge, red and “tight” as one child who was “down with the language,” described. Spiky juggled for the kids and celebrated with us for a bit… a young group of children who contributed to their community being entertained by a wonderful young man who had done the same. Talk about a feel-good moment.
I was proud to have been this high school boy’s teacher many years ago, and proud to be the teacher of these little bubble gum snapping, limbo dancing, ice cream eating, goofy acting kids now.
Job well done, all of you.
