Hickory Ridge fourth graders put on food drive to support those in need

BRUNSWICK — Fourth graders at Hickory Ridge Elementary School in Brunswick recently led the charge on a food drive to benefit students at Brunswick High School. Fourth-grade teacher Adrienne Brady said the April food drive tradition started around the COVID-19 pandemic when her class identified a theme in the stories they were reading of helping others who are in need. "We could read about this, and we could talk about this, but how do we actually implement this? We know there's such a need in our community," she said. "We think of hunger as being something that's worldwide, and we don't always think that it's in our own backyard and in our own communities." Since then, the entire fourth-grade class at Hickory Ridge helps with a food collection initiative, Brady said. Students collected various non-perishable items like snacks and easy to make meals. "Finding joy and helping others, and that connection to community, is so important," she said. Brady said kids worked in groups to create posters advertising the food drive, wrote scripts and recorded their messages for the morning announcements and monitored donations as they came in by making sure the boxes and items were ready to go. "I think a lot of them are surprised at how good they feel," she said. "You don't do it to feel good, but they felt good doing it for others. Hopefully, we can get them to continue in their lives, helping others. The ultimate goal as a citizen is to be able to help your community and help others." A specific count was not collected for the food drive, but Brady said it went well. Some items were given to a local family in need, and the remainder were donated to the family resource room at Brunswick High School, where students can stock up on food and other items they need. "This time of year, (the resource room) is getting really low, so we're able to stock that up and have a lot going into next year as students come in in August," she said. "It's really nice to be able to impact that." Community donations are accepted for the resource room. Brunswick High School teacher Dawn Thompson, who runs the initiative, said typically the main needs are hygiene products, non-perishable snacks and non-perishable food that can make family meals. For more information, contact dthompson@bcsoh.org. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.