LOWELL -- As boxes and plastic bags full of food quickly accumulated inside First Baptist Church, students and staff members from Elza Tucker Elementary School marveled at all the items they had carried in from their nearby bus.
"I think we're going to manage to fill this room up. Don't you guys?" said Shari Ogburn, a school counselor.
Hunger problem
One in four people in Northwest Arkansas face food insecurity each day. Sixty-one percent of students in the region are on free and reduced meal programs.
Source: Northwest Arkansas Food Bank
Twenty-four children from Candace Pierce's fifth-grade class spent much of Tuesday morning delivering a few thousand nonperishable food items to the church for its food pantry.
The students had collected the food -- pasta, peanut butter, cereal, canned vegetables, applesauce and more -- during a schoolwide food drive they organized and promoted. They collected the items each day for eight days. They also maintained a graph charting how much food had been donated by each class to promote competition.
"We were hoping to get at least 1,500 items," Pierce said. "We ended up getting more than 3,800."
The donations far exceeded the contents of the church's pantry.
Pierce's class was inspired to lead the food drive after reading an article about global food insecurity. They came up with prizes for the two classes that donated the most food. The winners ended up being Christi Pinkley's first-grade class and Bradley Schoeller's fifth-grade class, Pierce said.
Pierce's students were all smiles during the 30 minutes they spent unloading the bus. Each one wore a blue T-shirt with the phrase "I'm a Tucker Superhero" printed on the front.
Sebastian Cabrera, 11, at one point could be seen carrying a stack of ramen noodle boxes almost as high as him. A few classmates asked if he needed help.
"I got it. I got it," Sebastian replied.
Tucker, part of the Rogers School District, is in Lowell, less than two miles north of First Baptist Church. It has about 578 students, Pierce said.
The church is generous to Tucker with its donations to the school's children's fund, which supports students with various needs they have, Ogburn said.
"We have to give back to the church because they're so good to us," she said.
Melanie Manning, a fifth-grader, has been going to First Baptist all her life. The food drive meant a lot to her, she said.
"I was thinking it was going to be even more successful," Melanie said. "We put posters up. Everyone in the class made posters."
Dakota Windenburg, another fifth-grader, said he enjoyed collecting the food each day from each classroom.
"Sometimes you could see the excitement on the kids' faces," Dakota said.
Penny Sims, the church's children's director, thanked the students after they finished.
"You guys rocked this," Sims said. "You brought in a ton."
Sims explained to the students how the church creates Christmas baskets filled with food, which are delivered mid-December to less fortunate families in the area. About 25 families associated with Tucker will receive one of those baskets.
Sims also let the students see the church's pantry. Sometimes people bring food in, but the church also buys food from the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, she told students.
One student asked her if the school's food donation was the biggest one the church had ever received. Sims nodded.
"Ever. Hands down the most we've ever gotten," she said.
NW News on 11/25/2015