It’s the season of giving at Sunnyside Elementary School, and Sunnyside students, staff, and families collected thousands of food items to donate to East High School for its students and families in need of extra help during the holiday season.
Students got together to haul the items out to the parking lot on Monday. Sunnyside Elementary kids loaded up boxes of all kinds of food products. A little rain came down while they brought the food out to the waiting vehicles, but that didn’t stop them.
3rd grader Olivia Larson said making a positive impact in the community feels good.
“We got a ton, so that’s really helpful for East High, and we can keep the community growing,” said Larson. “Even if we don’t start a food drive, we can just donate whenever.”
Shijan Oehlerking is a special education teacher at Sunnyside Elementary; she helped guide the project.
“We are such a small school. We are one of the smallest schools, and to see the impact we can have and see our entire hallway almost filled, like it’s always really gratifying and kind of mind-blowing that even if you’re small, you can have a big impact,” said Oehlerking.
Students started collecting donations at the beginning of November and surpassed a goal of 5,000 items. They finished with just over 5,800.
View the full coverage by Nik Wilson on KCAU's website.
