Holidays are a time for celebration with family and friends when we traditionally gather together and share special meals. For some, though, there are few meals during the holidays or any other time of the year. In order to help those less fortunate than ourselves, The Sunshine Elementary School students and staff conducted a canned and packaged food drive during the Thanksgiving season.

Kids are natural activists. When they see a need, they want to do something to help. With great enthusiasm, the students from Kindergarten through seventh grade designed and created flyers which they distributed to their neighbors. Within two weeks, the special barrel prepared to receive the childrens' canned and packaged food donations was filled ten times over.

After all the food had been collected, the students took a field trip to Project Volunteer Food Bank in Oakland to box the food which was then presented to families in the Bay Area. Each of the students who participated in the drive proudly received a special award.

Here are some reflections of the 3rd-4th grade class:

"It was fun to collect cans. One lady gave me 62 things. I think it was the shirt and tie that did it." - Henry Bechtel

"I got about 30 cans of food. My experience was that not one person said no!" - Joseph Young

"When I went to Project Volunteer, I felt really good, because I was helping poor people." - Amalia Barker

"When I went to Project Volunteer, I felt very happy, because my family had collected lots of food. I felt very sorry for the homeless and disabled people. I'm glad I had a chance to give to them." - Ariana Richie

The contents of the students' comments clearly show that this was an important community service project which gave each child a chance to develop public spirit.

For more information, call or write: The Sunshine School, 20625 Garden Avenue, Hayward, CA 94104. (510) 293-0300.

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