Students help out with annual food drive

When organizers of the Post Falls community food drive decided to try to increase this year’s food collection by 60 percent, they looked to a community asset well-versed in scrounging for donations: public schools.

And the schools have come through. The Post Falls School District’s four elementary schools, along with River City and Post Falls middle schools, Post Falls High School and the Kindercenter, already have raised slightly more than 3,907 pounds of food – nearly 10 percent of the food drive’s 40,000-pound goal.

“It’s been great,” said Mark Jones. “The schools have been overwhelming.”

Last year’s food drive – the first of what’s to be an annual event – netted 25,000 pounds of food when the goal was just 10,000 pounds.

Jones works with juvenile probation officials and the school district to get delinquent kids involved in the community. Some of the kids he works with helped him collect food from the schools last week.

The schools were pitted against one another in a competition to see which could rake in the most goods. Trophies are waiting to be claimed by the schools that collect the most.

“We thought maybe a school challenge with school trophies would be a good idea,” said Mike Urquhart, vice president of Century 21 Publishing and the food drive coordinator.

The food drive will culminate April 14 in the Wal-Mart parking lot with a daylong festival. Winners of the school challenge will be announced then, but this reporter was able to obtain preliminary standings as of March 29.

By far, the elementary schools are proving what some might consider obvious: The younger the kids, the more likely they are to get neighbors to clean out their cupboards.

Mullan Trail students brought in an eye-popping 792 pounds of food, beating second-place Ponderosa by 111 pounds.

The tykes at the Kindercenter held their own with 622 pounds. Prairie View and Seltice – the two biggest elementary schools – brought in the least amount of food, 526 and 310 pounds, respectively.

Mullan Trail’s food collection trumped that of all other schools, even Post Falls High School, where the four grade levels combined couldn’t muster enough food to outdo the elementary school. The high school brought in 709 pounds of food, 557 of which came from the sophomore class. The New Vision alternative high school brought in 125 pounds.

At the intermediate level, Post Falls Middle School was thumping River City, 205 pounds to 29 pounds.

Jones emphasized in an e-mail message to the schools that “every little bit helps.”

The competition isn’t over, so grab those canned goods and find a student.

You can donate to any one of the schools next week, or you can drop by the food drive festival April 14 and make a last-minute donation.

The festival is scheduled from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m.