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The Cans Around the School project at Grandview Elementary School in Windsor just keeps growing.
In its fourth year, the Grandview Elementary Parent Teacher Advisory Committee and the school’s students canvassed the Windsor area and dropped off paper bags donated from Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market in Fort Collins to homes last Monday and ask food donations be placed inside and returned.
Project coordinator Kim Grubbs said in the last three years the school has collected more than 8,000 pounds of canned food to go to an organization that helps the community. Grubbs said food banks run low during the cold, winter months after the holidays.
Last year, the project netted 3,049 pounds of non-perishable food items.
Grubbs, the wife of Grandview principal Dave Grubbs, said the students went out on Monday during Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a vacation day.
She said having the students start the project each year on MLK Day provides a sense of civic responsibility and reinforces the importance of contributing to the community.
Grubbs said the turnout was the best in four years.
“We had a great turnout,” said Grubbs, who works at Colorado State University and got the idea from CSU’s Cans Around the Oval event every October. “We handed out twice as many bags as we did last year. This year we distributed nearly 2,000 paper bags. We were thrilled with the participation from the Grandview family and friends who helped us with this project.”
Grandview volunteers will pick up the bags left by the community today and bring them back to Grandview and line the halls with the food collected. On Monday, Grandview students can bring cans in from home and contribute to the community donation as well. The food will be kept in the hallway throughout the week so the students can see the impact they made in the community.
“The best part of the whole thing is when the kids really get to see the visual of what is given,” Grubbs said. “Monetary donations are what food banks really like, but the visual that the students get to see from the food lining the hallway for a week has the biggest impact. It’s really fun to see the students making a difference.”
The food will be boxed up on Friday and go to the Weld Food Bank in Greeley and the Windsor Food Pantry.
“The big thing that we learned this year is that 40 percent of Grandview students come from Greeley,” Grubbs said. “That was something that was new for us to learn this year, and that’s why it’s such a big deal for the majority of that food to go to the Weld County Food Bank. There’s a lot of people that really have an emotional tie to the Windsor Food Pantry, but Weld County serves the entire community.”
Grubbs said the most needed items at the food bank are tomato-based products (not ketchup), canned fruit, peanut butter and meals in a can (containing meat).
She said if anyone in the community would like to donate food, they can bring it by Grandview Elementary School on Monday through Thursday. For questions about the project, call Grandview Elementary and ask to leave a message for the event coordinator (970) 686-8600.
In its fourth year, the Grandview Elementary Parent Teacher Advisory Committee and the school’s students canvassed the Windsor area and dropped off paper bags donated from Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market in Fort Collins to homes last Monday and ask food donations be placed inside and returned.
Project coordinator Kim Grubbs said in the last three years the school has collected more than 8,000 pounds of canned food to go to an organization that helps the community. Grubbs said food banks run low during the cold, winter months after the holidays.
Last year, the project netted 3,049 pounds of non-perishable food items.
Grubbs, the wife of Grandview principal Dave Grubbs, said the students went out on Monday during Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a vacation day.
She said having the students start the project each year on MLK Day provides a sense of civic responsibility and reinforces the importance of contributing to the community.
Grubbs said the turnout was the best in four years.
“We had a great turnout,” said Grubbs, who works at Colorado State University and got the idea from CSU’s Cans Around the Oval event every October. “We handed out twice as many bags as we did last year. This year we distributed nearly 2,000 paper bags. We were thrilled with the participation from the Grandview family and friends who helped us with this project.”
Grandview volunteers will pick up the bags left by the community today and bring them back to Grandview and line the halls with the food collected. On Monday, Grandview students can bring cans in from home and contribute to the community donation as well. The food will be kept in the hallway throughout the week so the students can see the impact they made in the community.
“The best part of the whole thing is when the kids really get to see the visual of what is given,” Grubbs said. “Monetary donations are what food banks really like, but the visual that the students get to see from the food lining the hallway for a week has the biggest impact. It’s really fun to see the students making a difference.”
The food will be boxed up on Friday and go to the Weld Food Bank in Greeley and the Windsor Food Pantry.
“The big thing that we learned this year is that 40 percent of Grandview students come from Greeley,” Grubbs said. “That was something that was new for us to learn this year, and that’s why it’s such a big deal for the majority of that food to go to the Weld County Food Bank. There’s a lot of people that really have an emotional tie to the Windsor Food Pantry, but Weld County serves the entire community.”
Grubbs said the most needed items at the food bank are tomato-based products (not ketchup), canned fruit, peanut butter and meals in a can (containing meat).
She said if anyone in the community would like to donate food, they can bring it by Grandview Elementary School on Monday through Thursday. For questions about the project, call Grandview Elementary and ask to leave a message for the event coordinator (970) 686-8600.
