Jefferson School Food Drive Produces Bountiful Harvest
Jefferson Primary School third graders are busy by nature, with school, family and outside interests and commitments. But these youngsters aren’t so pressed for time that they can’t do something nice for less fortunate Long Islanders.
The Jefferson students conducted a food drive that produced three huge barrels of items, which will benefit Long Island Cares and the Harry Chapin Food Bank. An acclaimed singer and songwriter, Mr. Chapin was a humanitarian who was well known to both presidents and the poorest of the poor. He raised millions of dollars for more than a hundred charitable organizations.
Mr. Chapin’s children, Jennifer and Josh graduated from Huntington High School and he was a Long Islander in every possible way, supporting local institutions and being generous to a fault. His death in an early afternoon fiery Long Island Expressway crash on July 16, 1981 stunned the nation. He was only 38.
Jefferson third graders helped collect and coordinate the temporary storage of the large cache of non-perishable items, which arrived daily for several weeks. The success of the endeavor produced many enthusiastic reactions by students and staff and kept interest high throughout the drive.
The Harry Chapin Food Bank was founded by the singer, who spotted the need for it to help twin problems of hunger and poverty. The not-for-profit Long Island Cares is one of America’s leading anti-hunger organizations. The group has distributed more than five million pounds of food a year, providing for about four million meals. Last year more than 600 agencies benefited, including food pantries, soup kitchens, senior citizen nutrition programs, day care centers and homeless shelters, “Kids Café, community residences, sober homes and day treatment programs, according to the group’s website.
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