East Guernsey food drive donations top 4K for Grace Food Pantry, Feed My People

OLD WASHINGTON — It was a record-setting year for a canned food drive conducted by two student groups in the East Guernsey Local School District.

More than 4,000 food items were collected during the school-wide drive to help those less fortunate members of the Guernsey County community.

The food was donated to Grace Food Pantry and Feed My People in Cambridge.

The drive was conducted by the Buckeye Trail Middle School Student Council under the leadership of Student Council Advisor Lauren Ellis, a teacher at BTMS, and Buckeye Trail High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes under the direction of Dave Deal.

"Both groups wanted to be a part of giving back to the community, so they decided to join forces," said Devani Roe, College Credit Plus instructor at Buckeye Trail High School. "It was the largest canned food drive ever done at the school."

Roe said the "secret to success" was each class in the district was challenged to bring in the most canned foods.

"It was a record setting year and we hope to see it grow in the future," added East Guernsey Superintendent Chase Rosser. "The awesome part is it was a collaboration between multiple student groups in the district."

The sixth-grade students at Buckeye Trail Middle School collected the most donations for a single grade with more than 900 items.

At the high school, the ninth-grade class was tops while the fifth-grade class at Buckeye Trail Elementary School collected the most donations.

Members of the Buckeye Trail boys' and girls' basketball teams also helped load the items into a trailer for transport to their destination in Cambridge.

"They came in on their day off to help get that accomplished," said Rosser.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: East Guernsey school district food drive donations top 4K