West Carroll Elementary School fifth graders are proving that small hands can make a huge impact.
Members of the school’s elementary BETA Club have collected a combined 1,700 food, hygiene, and toy items over the last several weeks as part of a series of student-led community service projects.
Their first project filled community blessing boxes in both Atwood and Trezevant, where two of the three pantries were nearly empty when the students arrived.
“They collected 500 food and hygiene items, and we were able to completely stock those boxes,” said Wendy Pinson, parent of one of the students. “One had only two items in it when we got there. They filled it with more than 200.”
“I wanted to do the food drive for my community because I know there are families who struggle during the holidays, and I wanted to make sure no one goes hungry,” said elementary BETA student Paisley Bennett. “Giving back helps bring people together and I want everyone to have a warm meal and a happy holiday.”
BETA member Liam Hudgins expressed a similar sentiment.
“We collected food because there are people that need help,” Liam said. “Some kids don’t have much food at home. It makes me feel good to help people that need it.”
Cruz Rogers said, “I like to help people, because it warms my heart.”
Cooper Pinson said the project was eye-opening to what some families face.
“Our goal was to help as many people as we could,” Pinson said. “We learned that some families don’t have enough food to get by, and I hope we were able to feed a lot of them.”
The pantry restock is the first of four community service projects the group selected to showcase at the upcoming BETA Convention.
On Friday, November 14, the four students made another large food purchase at Sam’s Club for families in need.
Toy Donation and More
Another project the students completed involves donating a number of toys and small items to the Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital outpatient clinic in Jackson.
The clinic relies entirely on donations to keep its Treasure Chest stocked for pediatric patients.
“These kids collected over 1,200 items for Le Bonheur on their own,” Pinson said. “Every child who visits the clinic gets to pick something out, so these donations go straight into the hands of kids who really need a moment of joy.”
They delivered the toys on Friday.
West Carroll’s Elementary BETA students are also writing personalized Christmas cards for residents in each nursing home in Carroll County.
They plan to deliver them before Christmas.
“They’re an amazing group of kiddos,” Pinson said. “They are choosing projects that truly help people, and they’re excited to do it.”
The students will present their projects at the upcoming State BETA Convention this coming week at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center.
Love this! Great job!