Richland donates 500 pounds of food to pantry
Richland Elementary School students and teachers teamed up to collect and donate 500 pounds of food to the Quakertown Food Pantry.
“The people at the pantry are absolutely thrilled,” said Luke Witts, a Richland teacher and student advisor. “The items really targeted what they were looking for.”
Richland is a Leader in Me school. Leader in Me is an ongoing process that teaches 21st-century leadership and life skills to students, and creates a culture of student empowerment based on the idea that every child can be a leader. Part of that process involves service projects, which are agreed to by student and staff leadership teams.
One of the projects was collecting food for the pantry. Students made posters, spoke about the project in class and upon arrival at school filled collection boxes placed at each school entrance. The canned and boxed goods included meats and fish and a variety of beans and vegetables. “There was nothing the pantry couldn’t use,” Mr. Witts said.
He said students understand that we’re in the midst of a pandemic “and these are hard times for many people. They know that the pantry helps families in the community, right here in our town, that need it. Our Richland families were very generous with their donations.”
Teachers advising students for the project included Mr. Kemmerer, Mrs. Pallone, Mrs. Wiater and Mr Witts. Mrs. Froshour advises staff members.
“This was something they tackled using the Leader in Me philosophy,” Mr. Witts said. “The students understand our goals. They did this in a very workmanlike fashion, like a well-oiled machine. They had a plan, stuck to it and executed it.”