Two fifth grade teams at Auten Road Intermediate School, Teams 5J and 5K, held the fifth annual Soup-er Bowl Canned Food Drive collection to benefit the Hillsborough Township Food Pantry last month.
Teams 5J (Mrs. Diane Lyons and Mr. Tom Augello) and 5K (Ms. Megan Colis and Mrs. Mindi Andreski) consist of four homerooms of students that spent the two weeks leading up to Sunday’s Superbowl collecting canned food to donate.
The 5K team (the Patriots) were the victors of this year’s collection but the real winner was the Hillsborough Township Food Pantry that received an astounding 3,683 cans of food from the generous students and their families.
The lessons of charity and community resonated in with many of the 5th grade students. One student from Team 5J made flyers and handed them out throughout her neighborhood to collect cans. A 5K family contributed over 160 cans on their own.
Several students from both teams spent their own allowance and gift money to buy cans to give to the Soup-er Bowl.
During the collection, the students also worked hard to check expiration dates, sort the food types, and box the donations for delivery to the Food Pantry.