We took the money on a field trip to the bank. We talked about putting money in the bank, and we got a tour of the whole building! They also gave us juice boxes and cookies, which was a big hit.
The day after our trip to the bank, we went on a trip to the grocery store. We were responsible for using the money that all of the classes had raised to buy food for the food shelf. We got lots and lots of food, and it was so fun to go through the aisles and pick out what we thought people would want and need. I made sure we picked out lots of mac n' cheese.
After the groceries and other donations were all put together, we went on another field trip to the food shelf. We talked about how sometimes people don't have everything they need, and how that is a place families can go for help. It really felt go to know that I was doing something helpful. There was a story about us in the local online paper, too! (Mommy edited some of the info in the article below.)
Kids Turn Chores into Change for Food Shelf
Pre-K children raise more than $700 for the Resource Center through school's first 'Can-A-Thon'.
A group of Pre-Kindergarteners from the newly-opened school were put to work in November and their efforts resulted in more than $700 in ‘wages’. Children from the educational child care facility were tasked with earning money through completing chores at home in an effort to raise money for donations to the Resource Center.
Their efforts helped supply the local food shelf with much-needed pantry supplies to help meet a nearly doubling of demand from hungry families during the holidays. The Resource Center recently announced it was expanding its hours during the holidays to help meet that demand.
Part of the focus here at the school is to help our children become active helpers in a world needing our attention,” says the owner of the school. “The month of November, through our Helping Hands Caring & Giving Project, we completed our first and very successful Can-A-Thon Event.”
In a nutshell, says the owner, the ‘Can-A-Thon’ event includes collecting change that the kids earned mainly through doing chores at home. For the school’s Preschool 2 classroom, they also made and sold Rice Krispie bars last week.
On Monday, the Pre-K kids took 10 jars of change to nearby Bank during a field trip to cash in the coins.
“The kids had a great time turning in the change and getting a tour of the bank,” says the owner.
On Tuesday morning, the kids again took a field trip; this time to the grocery store to shop for groceries and non-perishable items. The store matched the first $200 earned and the bank also provided $100 to utilize for the program.
“Our ‘Can-A-Thon’ event raised $420.01,” said the owner before Tuesday’s outing. “Adding the grocery store's and bank's contributions, we will be purchasing groceries and non-perishable items worth $720.01.”
Fanning out in small groups each armed with a grocery cart, the kids took to the grocery store's aisles spending their hard-earned money by choosing appropriate food items to donate.
“This is great,” said the store manager, as he surveyed the aisles full of children enthusiastically pulling food items from the shelves. “It’s good for them. It’s a good learning experience and we love to help out.”
After the carts were filled and the items checked out through the scanners, the boxes of food were loaded into school buses for a Wednesday delivery to the Resource Center.
“We feel the urgency of the season and are experiencing an enormous increase in need,” said the Resource Center Executive Director in an earlier announcement. “There is no option but to do more.”
For the Pre-K kids at the school, the lessons and rewards of “doing more” around the house will help some of the nearly 900 families the food shelf assists each month. According to Resource Center figures, 49 percent of the people served are children.
