Sacred Heart students hope to 'feed some hungry children' with 'Operation Cereal'

Mar. 31—EAST GRAND FORKS — Sacred Heart School's third annual "Operation Cereal" event was a success, with the school collecting 335 cereal box donations for the East Grand Forks Food Shelf.

"We want to feed some hungry children," said Michael Vetter, a sixth grader at Sacred Heart School.

Though all classes contribute donations, the sixth grade classes and their teachers — Kelly Wavra and Steve Johnson — lead the event by collecting and organizing donations, as well as preparing the "box topple." Donations were collected from March 20 to March 30, and the "box topple" took place on Friday afternoon, March 31.

Johnson said the students were very excited about the event — "almost too excited."

Johnson attributed the students' excitement, in part, to a break in their daily routine. However, he also noted the "spirit of giving" at Sacred Heart School, and the positive effect it has on his students.

"When they know they're doing something good, they really get excited about it," Johnson said.

Prior to the box topple, students noted how exciting it would be — especially for those who watched sixth grade classes run the event in years prior.

"Operation Cereal" began when Sacred Heart staff considered charity work their school could do during the season of Lent, and decided to collect donations for their local food shelf.

"(It's) someone that we could help in town, close to home where, you know, the kids would have more of a connection to it," Johnson said.

This year, Nevin Lubarski — the new principal — introduced Sacred Heart students to the "GIVE" mentality for Lent. "G" stands for gratitude, "I" stands for initiative, "V" stands for vision, and "E" stands for energy, according to sixth grader Joe Beiswenger.

Beiswenger explained how the "GIVE" initiative was exhibited in "Operation Cereal."

"All the people who donated were gracious for it," Beiswenger said.

The sixth graders showed initiative by working to put their "domino train" into action, and their vision was realized when they watched it play out.

As for energy, Beiswenger said he and his classmates want to bring that to the whole school.

"We want to excite the school about how much we donated," Beiswenger said.