Students To Camp Out For Hunger At Newtown Middle School

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — For the second year, students from the Newtown Middle School will be "CANping Out 4 Hunger." And they’re asking the community for donations of food.

On Friday night and again on Saturday morning, Oct. 6 and 7 students will be manning a food collection drive at their school to help the less fortunate.

From 7 to 10 p.m. on Friday night, Oct. 6, and again from 7 to 10 a.m. on Saturday morning, Oct. 7, the community can drop off donations of canned goods, non-perishable foods, paper goods and personal care items at the school located at 116 Newtown-Richboro Road.

“Just drive in, unload your car, and drive out. It will only take a moment of your time, but ultimately the results of it will help many in the community,” said Principal Tim Long. “The kids will be there to collect the donations, sort through them, and place them in boxes."

Long and the school community has set a goal of 5,000 pounds this year.

"If we were to receive one can or non-perishable food item from each student in the district, we would have over 10,000 items to donate. That would be incredible," he said. "Last year we collected over 3,000 pounds of food. Our goal this year is 5,000."

The donations will be given to Shir Ami, which will re-distribute the food items to pantries and shelters throughout Bucks County.

“The food banks are always thought of highly around the holidays, but there are needs now as well,” said Long. “This is a good time to help them get a jump start on the holiday season.”

As an incentive for helping at the drive, student volunteers will get to camp out overnight in tents on the school grounds where a full schedule of fun activities is planned to help them pass the time, including walks in Tyler Park, board games, and of course, S'mores.

"The primary focus is the canned food drive but embedded in this is the camping experience. We have 120 signed up to sleep over and camp on our fields. We have an additional 30 kids who are coming to volunteer from 7 to 10 p.m.," said Long.

Among this year's volunteers are Sarah Fiely and Lanty Coghlan, both eighth graders at the school. This will be their second year helping out.

Sarah said she had a blast at last year's event. Her favorite part was taking a walk through nearby Tyler State Park. They also had volleyball and s'mores. "It was just fun to hang out and walk around with your friends."

Lanty agreed. "It was fun hanging out with friends. Throughout the night we played pranks on each other. We hung out in our tents or just ran around."

State Rep. Perry Warren stopped by to help during last year's food drive. (Photo by Jeff Werner)

On the food collection side, both were impressed with the number of people who showed up to donate.

"There were a lot of cars," said Sarah. "We had a lot of people show up and a lot of food was donated, which made all of us feel good."

"When they pulled up they handed us the bags," said Lanty, describing the process. "We sorted everything into boxes. Then we waited until the next person rolled in with another bag," he said.

Lanty's mom added, "I was impressed with how polite the kids were when everyone drove up and how grateful and how kind they were in thanking the individuals who were making the donations. There were a lot of great manners on display, which is an important thing from a mom's perspective."

Long said he’s hoping that the drive will not only show the kids that they can make a difference but also demonstrate to them the importance of service and giving back.

“It’s about going outside of their own comfort zone and thinking of others,” he said. “They all have nice warm homes and plenty of food, but not everyone has that same situation.”

The effort is a joint project of the school and its Parent Teacher Organization.