Longfellow students' Goodwill donation celebrated by Chicago Blackhawk Niklas Hjalmarsson

Students, families, and the Longfellow Elementary School community generously donated more 78,311 gently-used items to Goodwill through the Pass It On Challenge this past spring. On Friday, students celebrated their success with Niklas Hjalmarsson of the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Pass It On Challenge encouraged schools in the Chicagoland area to donate as many items to Goodwill as possible during the month of April. The Longfellow community donated the most items during the Challenge.

“Every family got involved with the collection last spring, and it was great to see our students get so excited to give back to the community,” said Rick Herrejon, principal of Longfellow Elementary School.

This spring was the fourth year of Goodwill’s Pass It On Challenge. Nearly 1.4 million items were donated in the Chicagoland area during the month of the Challenge.

“The Pass It On Challenge continues to grow and we love to see schools and communities rally together to reduce, reuse, and recycle,” said Cheryl Lightholder, Manager of Communications for Goodwill “But, most important is that the revenue from the sale of these items in our stores is reinvested in our mission of helping people find jobs.”