Students collect 4,322 items in 'Kans for Kids' food drive
By SCOTT POWELL Ledger Staff Writer spowell@gaffneyledger.com

Limestone-Central Elementary fourth grade students Jordan Ruppe, Indy Singleton, Matt Ruppe and Paul Harper sort through items Thursday in the school lobby for a Salvation Army canned food drive.

Limestone-Central Elementary students have collected more than 4,000 canned food items over the past two weeks for the local Salvation Army.

Rice, Ramen noodles, corn, and green beans are among 4,322 food items that students have brought for Salvation Army's "Kans for Kids" food drive. Students collected the food this month for the school's annual Christmas community service project.

Volunteers from the Salvation Army will pick up the food today.

"Our students did a tremendous job. We always do a community service project for Christmas. The Salvation Army recently contacted us about helping with their food drive," Limestone Central Elementary guidance counselor Kecia Spencer said. "The response from the students has been overwhelming, especially for a food drive that only lasted two weeks."

Students in Cathy Parker's special education class collected the food each morning during school announcements. The food was neatly arranged into boxes by a Christmas tree in the lobby area.

A pizza party will be given to the three Limestone-Central Elementary classes that contributed the most food items.

The Salvation Army is providing food for 115 families for Christmas, Capt. Robbie Robbins said. This is in addition to toys children will receive from the nonprofit Christian ministry.

"Our pantry will be depleted once we finish giving gift cards and food from pantry to families for Christmas," Robbins said. "We will use the food from this food drive to replenish the pantry after the Christmas holidays. This will allow us to get off to a good start in January and continue to help the needy in the community."