Anthony Scalera JACKSON — Some youngsters save their pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters in a piggy bank so they can buy something special for themselves, but Anthony Scalera, 8, of Jackson, recently had a better idea.
“Throughout the 2009-10 school year I gave Anthony $4 a day to buy lunch in school,” said Anthony’s mom, Angela Scalera. “On the first day of school, he came home with 50 cents change.”
On other days Anthony, who attends the Crawford-Rodriguez Elementary School, brought home 35 cents, or 20 cents, or some other amount. He then came up with the idea to save his change and use that money to buy food for the Jackson Food Pantry which is operated by the Jackson Women of Today.
During the summer the food pantry’s operators send out requests seeking donations of food and other items, since many people who make donations at other times during the year may be away on vacation.
Anthony thought about the many children who may go hungry during the summer because they are not in school to have an appropriate meal. He made the decision to take the change he had saved during the 2009-10 school year and use it to buy food for the pantry.
He did his good deed during the summer when donations to the food pantry are low, his mom explained.
“We need to buy a lot of food so that everyone has something,” is the way Anthony put it.
Using the change he saved, Anthony was able to buy 30 boxes of macaroni and cheese, 10 cans of tuna, 10 cans of green beans, 20 cans of corn, six jars of peanut butter, three packages of cotton swabs, two toothbrushes and 10 tubes of toothpaste.
And, there is more.
After seeing a store circular advertising school supplies, Anthony suggested purchasing school supplies for children who cannot afford them and he bought 70 spiral notebooks, 21 boxes of crayons, eight Elmer’s glue containers, 12 packages of pencils and two packages of index cards.
Angela Scalera said she hopes her son’s story will inspire other individuals to help people in need.