Let the Cereal Games Begin
Let the Cereal Games Begin
Ellicottville School hosting cereal drive for local families
This is the season of giving; the season of loving your fellow humans; the perfect time to pay it forward and give back to your community. What better way to do that than with a simple donation that could help ease the hardship of a family’s grocery needs? Ellicottville Central School is hosting a “Cereal Drive” to help support local families who could use a little extra help with food over the winter break. EllicottvilleNOW spoke to event organizer/teacher Leah Farnum about the creation of the program and how you can be a part of it.
eNOW: A cereal drive is a great idea. What made you think of it?
FARNUM: Teacher social media is a great resource! I follow many accounts that highlight fantastic ideas such as this one. I have seen this idea pop up on accounts across the country, and have always wanted to organize something like this at ECS. With the creation of the STEM program this year, and more kids to see on a weekly basis in my classroom, this felt like the perfect time to attempt a cereal drive of our own!
eNOW: How big of a problem do you think food insecurity is for the community?
FARNUM: According to the Olean Food Pantry, 21.6% of the population in Cattaraugus County experience food insecurity. This year our winter recess is almost two weeks long. Our school is very fortunate to offer a delicious hot breakfast created by our talented cafeteria staff daily at no charge to students. This is a true gift to families and an opportunity that many kids take advantage of. With a longer school break, families will need to provide meals they may have relied on their children eating at school. If we can alleviate a small amount of that stress by sending home some boxes of cereal and packing our local food pantries, I think many families would greatly benefit!
eNOW: How many boxes of cereal are you hoping to attain?
FARNUM: This is a loaded question! Over the next two weeks, students in 4th and 5th grade will be helping with the data collection and the engineering behind the scenes of this project while in my classroom. Students will be measuring hallways and cereal boxes to track our path and keep the younger elementary students up-to-date with our donation progress. My original goal was a few hundred boxes - enough to line the upper hallway in the elementary from end to end. This goal is growing, however, by the day! There are 220 students in our elementary building. It would be so wonderful to send a box of cereal home with every student, donate bundles to our project Christmas, and donate a hundred or a few to our local food pantries. I think we can reach this goal and truly knock down hunger! In just three days we have already collected 50 boxes. Could we get to 500? Time will tell!
eNOW: After collection is complete, you'll be hosting a "Knock Down Hunger" cereal domino display… Will you be sharing that on social media for everyone to see?
FARNUM: Absolutely! The students in my STEM class will help take photo documentation that we will turn into a slide deck! I also plan to film the cereal domino train in action! Students in our elementary will line the halls cheering as our very own Elliot the Eagle starts our ceremony, knocking down the initial box of cereal. Pictures and a video will be shared on our school social media page with the final tally of collected donations. I will be sure to send ellicottvilleNOW our final count and photos of our young philanthropists/engineers to share with your readers.
eNOW: How can people help with donations? Does the type of cereal matter? Can you donate more than one box?
FARNUM: I would LOVE the support from the community! Donations can be dropped off in the elementary office during school hours. On December 13th, the last day of collection, the ECS PTO will be hosting Family Fun Night from 5:00-7:00pm. I will be at the main entrance of the elementary collecting boxes on this night as well. I have already made a few pick-ups in the village. The Ellicottville Memorial Library will have a box in their main entrance for drop-off as well. I am happy to schedule any pick-up necessary! Questions about pick-up can be sent to my email address at school lfarnum@ecsny.org. Any and all donations are welcome, cereal types do not matter. I have had a few 5-10 box donations already! Since posting on my personal page, I have had friends near and far send monetary donations, and I will purchase cereal with the money sent from Nebraska, Florida and Georgia! Our community is so generous, and is much larger than our quaint village!
eNOW: Will you be doing something like this during the upcoming Christmas holiday as well?
FARNUM: This will run from now until Dec. 13th with the hope of getting the kiddos cereal in time for the winter recess. If this is a success, I would happily continue to do this in years to come! I truly hope we have so much cereal that we have to take multiple trips to the food pantries!
eNOW: Anything else you would like to share with the community?
FARNUM: I have grown up in this community and seen firsthand how we “take care of our own.” I am always grateful for the lessons learned in this small town. I hope that the students at ECS are able to create a core memory this holiday season as we show our generous nature and topple down hunger as a community. Thank you in advance for any support you will show us over the next few weeks!
There you have it folks. An easy way to help make someone’s day this holiday season, just by dropping off a box of Cheerios or scheduling a pick-up with Leah. So let’s get serious about cereal and help them reach their goal. As Leah said, “Let the cereal games begin!!”