Atwater students named food drive champions By ANNE KLOCKENKEMPER Staff Writer NORTH PORT — Students at Atwater Elementary were recognized this week for collecting the most food of any school in the Sarasota County School District during a recent can drive to benefit All Faiths Food Bank. This year’s collection was organized by Volunteer Community Connections of Sarasota, and eight district schools took part during the Make-a-Difference Day food drive that, overall, collected 4,330 pounds of food for All Faiths on Oct. 25. VCC presented trophies to Atwater, which won in the elementary school category by collecting 831 pounds of food. Booker High School in Sarasota won the secondary school category by collecting 342 pounds of food. On Tuesday afternoon, the 27 students in Atwater’s ESE class — which is a combined class of students in kindergarten through fifth grade — earned special recognition, since they collected more canned goods than any other group at the North Port school. “We collected 101 total cans, an average of 3.74 cans per student,” said Exceptional Student Education teacher Ami Steiner. The students were surprised with an ice cream float party, courtesy of Atwater business partner Horace Mann Financial Planning, which supplied ice cream and either root beer or orange soda to make the floats. Students enjoyed the sweet treat sitting outside on the Atwater playground. “And we get bendy straws!” said an excited Ja’Naya Blythe, a second-grader. Marnie Eckerd, a student support teacher, said the amazing thing about it was that many of the ESE students come from struggling families themselves. According to Volunteer Community Connections Executive Director Cindy Underwood, the food collected by the eight schools will provide 3,608 meals to families. In a statement from the school district, Atwater science teacher James Froelich said students and staff made posters, advertised on the morning news broadcast, and recorded videos to promote the importance of making a difference in the lives of others. “Atwater’s community is a diverse population that is full of both needs and networks of support,” he said. “The young citizens who call themselves All-Stars have made us very proud of them once again.” The other schools that took part in the food drive were Brookside Middle School and Cranberry (in North Port), Tuttle, Phillippi Shores, Bay Haven and Gocio elementary schools. Email: annek@sun-herald
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 14:46:15 +0000