Haleyville Middle School food drive underway

HALEYVILLE - The first suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits due to the federal government shutdown, has prompted a major and unique outreach by Haleyville City Schools  to help students and community members in need this holiday season.
The deadline for collecting food items for the Thanksgiving holiday food distribution is Wednesday, Nov. 19, which will give teachers and organizers time to sort and prepare the items into bags for students in need to take home to their families when schools dismiss for Thanksgiving Friday, Nov. 21, school officials said.
The food drive is the first major project of the first-ever Ron Clark Academy, headquartered at Haleyville Middle School. RCA encourages character development  by promoting values such as kindness, bravery, friendship, success, giving and unity.
RCA kicked off the food drive as its first major project, but in a unique way, using the drive as a competition between students among the four houses or teams of competition at the middle school.
HCS Superintendent Dr. Bill Bishop commended the effort, which began at the RCA at the middle school, but has expanded to the elementary and high school campuses, which are assisting in collecting specific food items needed for a Thanksgiving feast.
“I am thankful for all these people who are taking care of this, our administrators, our teachers, the Ron Clark houses here at the middle school and our principals at the other schools.  Making sure everyone is involved, we can get what our students need,” Bishop pointed out.
“As far as the SNAP program goes, I wish our government would get that straightened out because hungry kids don’t learn very well. One of the basic needs is hunger,” Bishop added.
“When our students come to school, sometimes that’s the only meal they get,” Bishop emphasized. “This is a way we can take care of them and provide for them as a school system.”
The federal government shut down October 1, resulting in the U.S. Department of Agriculture suspending SNAP benefits, and procedures effective November 1. 
Volunteers with local and area food distributions are expecting residents in need who have utilized SNAP benefits so form longer lines at local and area giveaways in the coming weeks, as news of the suspension of SNAP benefits continues to grow.
At least 15.3 percent of Winston County residents receive SNAP benefits, compared to 17.8 percent in neighboring Marion County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Our free and reduced lunch rate is about 67 percent,” Bishop stressed. “So you know there are issues and a need. You know there are students who don’t have what they need.”
“This is a great need that needs to be met,” stressed Middle School Principal Bo Wilcoxson. “I know we are going to meet it.”
Wilcoxson recalled that one time he asked a student, as schools were dismissing for the holiday, what they wanted for Christmas.  The student responded he hated to go home because he was warm and got to eat at the school.
“That story will stick with me,” Wilcoxson said. “That is what this is for, helping that child, and all the other children who are hungry.”
While brainstorming ideas for yearly activities to be conducted by the RCA, teachers had already decided to collect food for the Thanksgiving holiday to give to such students in need, noted sponsor teacher Lynsi Heath.
“Now that we are collaborating with the elementary school and the high school, it is actually turning into a holiday season (distribution). We’re doing Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Heath explained.
“My primary concern is food and security for the kids,” Heath continued. “Our kids, a lot of them don’t have what they need.
“One of our main goals with this is to target specific families, not just to distribute (to them, but) throughout the whole community,” Heath said.
Sponsor teacher Ashley Bailey added that many families of students in need were using the SNAP benefits.
“These kids will go home a week at Thanksgiving and they won’t have those meals we provide at school,” Bailey added. “They will go home two weeks at Christmas. We need to make sure they have what they need to keep them fed.
“We can make sure they are getting those warm meals while they are here (at school) with us, but when they go home, we have no control over that,” Bailey pointed out.
Sponsor teacher Lauren Willis noted the need for these families, which are community families, are even greater with the reduction of SNAP benefits.
“It’s always an issue, but I feel it is now compounded because those families that did have SNAP to supplement don’t have that anymore,” Willis pointed out.
Sponsor teacher Lisa Arnold worries about students and families that face these needs, she said.
“I worry about them when they are not here, whether there is a need for food or not,” Arnold stated. “This compounds the issues they may have at home, so we just have to make sure they have what they need.
“You have to have food to be able to think and work at school and survive,” Arnold added.
The RCA uses a “house system,”  with a mixture of students from grades 6-8, along with a mix of teachers from all middle school grade levels, comprising four houses, including Altruismo, which is Portuguese for Givers--led by Heath; Amistad, which is Spanish for Friendship--led by Willis;
Reveur, which is French for Dreamers--led by Arnold, and Isibindi, which is Zulu for Courage--led by teacher Mandy Townsend.
The food drive is being organized at the middle school among these four houses, with each house collecting specific items. 
Colored boxes located on the stage in the middle school cafeteria, have a printed list on the side with items specifically being collected for that house, house leaders/teachers explained.
One house, for example, is collecting all of the specifically listed ingredients to make a sweet potato casserole, teachers said.
“We are trying to focus on being able to put together specific dishes,” Heath  said. “So we’re getting all of the ingredients to make  a pan of dressing, sweet potato casserole, a green bean casserole.
“We’re trying to be more deliberate about it,” Heath stated. “We will include recipe cards in the (box,) as well.”
Students will receive house points for the ingredients they bring or the donations they make, but the public is encouraged to make general donations of canned goods that can be used for the Christmas meal preparation, teachers/house leaders stated.
Anyone wishing to donate food can bring it to the school office, administrators said.
These items need to be non-perishable items, such as canned goods, stated Middle School Assistant Principal Emily Faulkner.
After the November 19 deadline of food collection, student leaders from each house, as well as any student volunteers will sort the foods into specific bags for students from each school to take home.
Gina Wilson, an employee at Haleyville Elementary, is helping to coordinate donations at that campus from pre-kindergarten through 5th grade.
“We divided the teachers into teams,” Wilson said. “We put one item on each of the teacher’s lists. We divided it into three teams, so it would be like a competition.”
For instance, one team is responsible for collecting or bringing such items as sage, canned frosting, onions, potatoes, flour, cornmeal mix, marshmallows, etc., while another team is responsible for collecting sugar, cranberry sauce, cake mix, salt, pepper, etc., while the third team will be collecting green beans, mushroom soup and other ingredients for a green bean casserole.
“They have different recipes they gave us,” noted Wilson. 
The team that collects the most items--with team captains being three physical education teachers--will be treated to popcorn and a movie in the school gym, Wilson explained.
High School Principal Davey Reed noted all classrooms throughout campus are busy gathering specific items to help with recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.
“We are very thankful for our community helping gather resources to help families during these holidays when school will not be in session,” Reed said.
After students return from the Thanksgiving holiday, the drive will continue with specific items placed into marked boxes for Christmas meals for children in need  to take home in December while on the Christmas break, teachers said.