GREEN RIVER — The Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Food Services department gathered over 965 pounds of food, and counting, for the Green River Food Bank through the advent calendar food drive.
At the start of December, the food services department started asking for donations of specific food items that students could bring to school with them each day of school throughout the month. Items on the advent calendar included boxes of cereal, jars of peanut butter, packages of pasta, crackers, rice, and more.
The food donations were dropped off Thursday afternoon, leaving one day of school left before winter break. This means there is still one more day for donations with the designated food item being canned vegetables. Any donations made Friday will be dropped off at the food bank after winter break on January 7.
The students and staff members who participated in the food drive helped bring in over 965 pounds of food so far, without the last day of donations. Kathy Siler, Food Bank of Sweetwater County Executive Director, said this food will help in addressing Green River’s food insecurity.
“The donation from Sweetwater County School District No. 2 food service was amazing,” Siler told SweetwaterNOW. “It will go far to alleviate food insecurity in Green River. There’s a continued increase in people needing services.”
Leah Kenison, SCSD No. 2 Food Service Director, said the idea for the advent calendar came from Food Service Manager/Head Cook Keri Nelson, who saw a similar idea online and brought it to the department.
“She just said, ‘I think this is a great idea,’ and I said, ‘I think we’ll do this for December,’ so I brought it to my kitchen managers at our monthly manager meeting and they were all like, ‘let’s do it!'” Kenison said.
She said the department brainstormed ideas on what food items to include and how best to collect the food. Ultimately, they had students drop off donations at their school’s kitchen.
“The secretaries would announce it over the announcements reminding students what food donations were coming up and reminding them to drop today’s donation off at the kitchen,” Kenison said. “We had great participation, and this is only our first year.”
