Learning #foodthanks

It's Thanksgiving week here in American.  Have you given #foodthanks yet?   I learned a lot from my kids last week in how a community can work together to help many.

 How can you make a bag like this...

Turn into a food donation like this...

Challenge a bunch of grade school kids to collect 1000 pounds of food and see what happens.  Tell them they can skip class to deliver the food if they meet the goal of 1000 pounds and they will hound their parents to go grocery shopping.

The kids didn't quite reach their goal.  They collected 885 pounds of food over 2 weeks.  The older kids had to keep track of the ounces as the food came in and got a serious lesson in math as they collected.

They walked almost 1 mile in freezing temperatures and frigid winds to deliver their goods.  (Only 5th grade and up was allowed to go.  It was deemed too cold for the younger kids to travel.)  Yes, 3 kids wore chore gloves that I happened to have in my truck.

They worked quickly in teams to unload all the food for the food pantry staff.

There were lots of cans, bags, boxes and bottles.

I was very humbled by how our simple sack of food combined with those of so many others could make a collection of food to help so many in our community this holiday season.

After the students returned to school and had lunch, the kids did several activities to celebrate Thanksgiving and help them remember that they had many things to give thanks for.  I had the pleasure of helping with the Thanksgiving Feast.  The students made their own place mats on which they had to put down what they were thankful for, many said food.

 The students worked to make a chain of thanks.  Each link on the chain listed something they were thankful for.  They enjoyed a yummy "feast" of pumpkin pie (made by the Kindergarten and 8th grade classes), cornbread, grapes, banana and pilgrim trail mix (in the pilgrim hat nut cup.)

Thank you to the students for reminding me that it is important to give #foodthanks.  Have you given thanks for your food this year?  Have you considered joining the AgChat Foundation in pledging to give a bag of food?  In return, you will get a reusable shopping bag like the one in the top picture (minus the food of course).

-A Kansas Farm Mom