Oswego Community Unit School District 308 issued the following announcement on Dec. 17.
For the past 7 years, Oswego Community Unit School District has conducted a food drive for the Kendall County Community Food Pantry (KCCFP). This year’s food drive was especially meaningful as this was the first year that SD 308 and the KCCFP joined in partnership to open the Oswego Satellite location of the KCCFP, which is open on the first Friday of each month for those families experiencing hardships.
The goal of the food drive has always been to not only provide food and household items to families in our community but to also use the time during the food drive as an opportunity to teach students valuable lessons regarding hunger and food insecurities. It is also a time where students learn that when all work together towards the same goal, the results can have a monumental impact on something one believes in.
The schools in the district spent the week of October 19 - 28 collecting non-perishable items. Due to COVID and schools being in a remote setting, families visited school parking lots and loaded their items directly onto school buses. From October 19 - November 6, the school communities also had the opportunity to donate directly to the KCCFP through an online donation portal. For every $1 that was donated, the donor’s school of choice received credit for 8 items in the friendly competition. The KCCFP has indicated that of all the things that can be donated, money is still the most effective. The reason being that for every $1 donated, they have the buying power of the Northern Illinois Food Bank to provide $8 worth of groceries to a neighbor in need.
The winners of the food drive are determined based on the total number of items collected, including the cash equivalent calculated to the student population of the school. This year’s winners were notified by a surprise visit from Dr. John Sparlin, Superintendent of Schools, and Greg Witek, Board Chairman of the KCCFP. The coveted traveling grand championship trophy for 2020, as well as the elementary winner, was Churchill Elementary School, which donated 23,300 items. The junior high top spot division winner went to Plank Junior High School with 6,327 items donated, and the high school top spot went to Oswego High School, which donated 16,175 items. All combined, the district was able to collect and donate an impressive amount of 139,152 items to the KCCFP. This was the second highest donation amount to the KCCFP since the food drive was started. Over the last 7 years, the district has collected 953,259 items, which means next year we will celebrate breaking the 1 million items collected mark!
“I am truly humbled by the way our school community came together by collecting over 130,000 items during a pandemic when so many families have their own struggles,” said Dr. John Sparlin, superintendent of school. “This shows that our students, parents, and staff come together to care for the community especially during tough times.” Thank you to everyone who supported this great cause.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Oswego Community Unit School District 308
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