Elizabeth Avenue School Students Raise $500 For Franklin Food Bank

Students at Elizabeth Avenue Elementary School recently presented the Franklin Food Bank with a gift for the new year: a $500 check.

The money was raised through the school’s “EAS Gives Back” program, said school principal Greg Romero.

In the latest campaign, students paid $1 to be able to wear a hat to school, said the effort’s organizer, 5th Grade teacher Silvia Hanech-Strzeminski.

“Many, many students participated, and we were able to raise a lot of money through students wearing their hats,” she said. “Some kids had holiday hats on, some had sports had on.”

“We educated kids through our presentations in morning meetings about why it was necessary to help the food bank,” she said. “The kids understand how important it is to help the community and make sure they have food and everything else.”

The money raised by the students was matched by the school’s Positive Behavior in Schools program, which is administered by 2nd Grade teacher Jenn Schellenberg.

This is not the first donation made to the food bank by EAS students, said school vice-principal Jennifer Stein.

“We’ve been working with the food bank for 4 years now,” she said.

Allie O’Brien, the food bank’s development director, said the money raised will pay for 1,000 meals.

“Silvia and the rest of the team at EAS has been unbelievable in all of their fundraising and gathering of donations for the food bank,” she said. “This year’s very creative fundraiser has had a different kind of impact than gathering of food for a food drive.”

Also part of the organizing team was  Abbie Staton-Schmidt, a school guidance counselor.

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