Schools, Community Join To Help Feed Families Through LCAC
Emerson students turned their canned good donations into something special, inlcuding this giant E.
Lakewood City Schools’ students and staff did their part this holiday season to help feed families right here in our own neighborhoods with their canned food drives to benefit the non-profit Lakewood Charitable Assistance Corporation.
During the holidays in Lakewood, there are hundreds of people who struggle to feed themselves and their families. That’s why this year, and for the last 25 years, LCAC works with the community to gather and deliver two large bags of food to over 300 families and seniors at Thanksgiving and an additional 300 families at Christmas.
Jeff Worron, past president and current board member of the LCAC explains that, “The goal of the LCAC is to provide families with a full-sized turkey, 10 pounds of potatoes, pies, butter and all of the trimmings so that they and their family can enjoy a wonderful meal together.”
Every school in the district participated in collecting money and/or food for the LCAC food bags. Many took the opportunity this year to get creative in their collection efforts, getting the kids more excited than ever to help out their community.
Emerson Elementary took the collection to a new level with its "Canstruction" theme. Taking a page from other food drives worldwide that have turned their cans into 3-D works of art, parent Heidi Murray was inspired to try it at Emerson. In order to make the can designs, students had to use their math skills to calculate how many cans were needed to complete the design. They also calculated the number of servings, pounds and ounces provided in each 3-D piece, which were a giant E for Emerson, a slice of pie and a soup can.
Hayes Elementary rallied its students to the cause with a “Cheerio Challenge,” asking students to bring in Cheerio boxes to fill Principal Sandy Powers’ office. More than 200 boxes were collected. Garfield Middle School urged its students to “Fill the Stage” with food. Harrison reported an all-time record for amount of cans collected. Harding Middle School is the only school that collects both at Thanksgiving and Christmas, providing the most amount of food from the district.
Not only do our students collect food, but many of them choose to help out with the packing and delivering of the bags either through their membership in H2O or on their own. Garfield Principal Mark Walter is a regular at the Saturday morning deliveries.
“It’s been said that it takes a village to raise a family. Nowhere is this more true than right here in Lakewood. Given the fact that the LCAC is a very small, 100% volunteer organization, it would not be possible for us to gather, sort and deliver all of that food without the support of the community and the Lakewood Schools,” Worron said.
“The support from the schools in the form of food donations as well as the support from the students, teachers, staff and H20 at packing and delivery time is crucial in helping the LCAC meet the needs of these 600 families.”
Worron continued: “We're excited about our relationship with the schools. One of the things that makes Lakewood a great place to live is how the community works together to help each other. The schools are a great example of that.”