This article was originally published in The Examiner on Nov. 24, 2016.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
The Beaumont Independent School District hosted a food drive, which ended Nov. 15, that gathered 15,165 pounds for the Southeast Texas Food Bank, according to Doris Harris, Southeast Texas Food Bank administrative assistant.
The food bank provides food to over 130 hunger relief agencies in the area.
Susan Detweiler, Southeast Texas Food Bank volunteer and food drive coordinator, said, “The Southeast Texas Food Bank appreciates all the administration, teachers and students of BISD for the efforts to help us to lead the fight against hunger in Southeast Texas.”
Every 10,000 pounds of food collected is the equivalent of over 8,300 meals, Beaumont ISD said in a release promoting the drive. Almost 90,000 people in Southeast Texas are living in poverty, and more than 35 percent are children.
“We were very pleasantly surprised at the turnout from the participation of the campuses and the administration,” said Debbie Bridgeman, Beaumont ISD community relations specialist. “Together we were able to donate over 15,000 pounds of food items. The original count was over 7,000.”
All donations had to be nonperishable, and nothing could be in glass containers.
Students were encouraged to donate canned vegetables, fruit, soup, peanut butter, powdered milk, boxed pasta and cereal.
Some additional campuses brought their own donations as well, Bridgeman said. Other schools collected donations for Some Other Place, CASA and The
Giving Tree.
Bridgeman said of the program’s success this year: “We’re looking forward to doing district-wide campaigns again and again to help organizations in Southeast Texas.”
Participating campuses included Amelia Elementary, Blanchette Elementary, Paul Brown Learning Center, Central High School, Charlton-Pollard, Curtis, Dishman Elementary, Fehl-Price Elementary, Fletcher Elementary, Guess Elementary, Homer Elementary, Lucas Pre-K, Marshall Middle School, Martin Elementary, Odom Academy,
Ozen High School, Pathways, Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary, Regina-Howell Elementary, Smith Middle School and West Brook High School.
“It’s good to know that we put that out there and so many campuses jumped on board,” Bridgeman said.
“The students of BISD are amazing.”
Eleanor Skelton 