Health & Fitness
Dedham Middle School Students Collect “Staggering” Amount of Food …
DMS students in grades 6, 7 and 8, “outdid themselves” with donations this year, destined for Lindsay Barich and the Dedham Food Pantry. It became apparent early on, that the little room set aside to store these items, just wouldn`t be big enough.
For the past few weeks, the school`s boys and girls have been in the midst of their Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive. Each year the Middle School has met this challenge, and their food donations have helped “make a difference” in the lives of many in our community. The Dedham Food Pantry is the one organization in town, that receives no government funding and relies completely on the generosity of the community. Each week, over 200 local families count on the Pantry for help in these tough times.
DMS Teacher Representatives, Sue Lyons, Andrew Patterson, and Rebecca Huff help organize this annual event and each of the school`s 31 homerooms take part. To make things even more exciting, the 10 homerooms in each grade, challenged one another to collect the most food!
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This year, the Dedham Middle School has a record number of 6th grade students and the newcomers were all eager to participate and help out in the community. One Mother told us that “her daughter got so excited, she wanted to empty out the cabinets at home…” The school`s homeroom teachers reported that “many students donated food items every day.”
When the final tally was announced, Ms. Hegarty`s 8th grade homeroom had beat their competition and Mrs. Leclair`s 7th graders came out on top – each room had collected well over 100 items. The winning 6th grade class belonged to Rebecca Huff, with almost 200 donated items!
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The cafeteria broke in to cheers when the record-setting grand total was announced. An astonishing 2,300 plus non-perishable food items had been brought in to school!
On Wednesday afternoon, student council members joined an army of student, parent and teacher volunteers and loaded waiting cars for the journey to the Food Pantry. The Pantry`s motto: “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” couldn`t be more true… Congratulations to all involved on a job well done.
