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Students Learn Lesson in Holiday Giving

Jessica Bair/SUNCOAST

Members of the National Junior Honor Society, from left to right, Megan Klotz, Sara Kosarac, Alyssa Jackson, language arts teacher Cheryl Vinson (behind), Savanna Theme and Caroline Kessler of Chasco Middle School in New Port Richey hosted the food drive for their service project. The school collected over 1,600 can goods over two weeks, which will be distributed to food banks and holiday drives around town.

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By Jessica  Bair | The Suncoast News

Published: November 27, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Students at Chasco Middle School got a lesson in sharing and giving back to the community during a two-week food drive held on campus.

The National Junior Honor Society club held a school-wide challenge to see which class in both the middle school on Ridge Road and the adjacent Chasco Elementary School could collect the most cans of nonperishable food, says Cheryl Vinson, NJHS sponsor and language arts teacher.

The middle school students collected more 1,600 cans while the elementary gathered about 1,000.

"We couldn't have done it without the whole campus," says Vinson.

"It's a great way for the school and the students to give back," she said of the annual event.

Collectively, the goods will stock shelves at food banks like the Volunteer Way and holiday drives sponsored by the Pasco Sheriff's Office; state Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey; and state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, for families in West Pasco.

Jeff Starr's sixth-grade advanced mathematics students collected 147 cans and Danielle Kucera's first-grade class, brought in 171 items. Both groups will receive a special breakfast and pizza party for their first-place efforts.

"I am really proud and happy that they (students) took an active interest and really stepped up to the plate," says Starr of his 19 successful students.

The schools social worker, Linda Angelilli, said all the students really grasped how important it is to give back to the community in which they live.

Elementary teacher Elsie Farmerie gave her

fourth-grade students a lesson in nutrition, the purpose of food drives and how to give back to those in need in conjunction with the canned good drive, says Angelilli.

"I think they really got it," she says of the fourth-graders, who refused their second-place pizza prize because they wanted the food to go to the less fortunate.

As a Title I school Chasco Elementary has many students from low-income families eligible for free or reduced-cost lunches. This didn't keep its student from actively participating in the drive, Angelilli explained.

"She did a great job teaching them," Angelilli says of Farmerie. "They actually related the concepts and learned values that they can take with them."

Instead of pizza, Angelilli will give the fourth-graders Hershey Kiss candies. She hopes the class will accept her small token for their big effort, she said.

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