LINDALE MIDDLE SCHOOL AIMS FOR 15,000 POUNDS IN FOOD DRIVE

From Bob Mosier, AACPS:

In the last two years, Lindale Middle School’s “Stuff The Truck” campaign has netted approximately 15,000 pounds in food for the Anne Arundel County Food Bank. The school is aiming to match that total in a five- day span next week.
For the third consecutive year, members of the school’s staff will set up camp in front of the school beginning Monday night. With nighttime temperatures expected to hover around freezing, they will spend their nights outside through Thursday or until the 1,024-cubic-foot storage container is filled with donations. The container was donated by PODS Moving & Storage.

This is a critical time of year for the Food Bank, as donations traditionally drop off after the holiday season. The need, however, does not. Approximately 30 percent of current Anne Arundel County Public Schools students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, nearly twice the percentage from 10 years ago.

To spice things up this year, the school will host events at 6 p.m. on several nights. There will be a flash mob featuring the school’s dance company and staff on Tuesday, Soup Night sponsored by the PTA in the school cafeteria on Wednesday, and a Jazz Band performance along with a block party and an appearance by the Chick-fil-A cow on Thursday.

Tickets for the Soup Night event, featuring soup from Italia’s Corner Café, are $5, with all proceeds going toward the drive. The Food Bank counts each dollar collected as eight pounds of food.

Donations of nonperishable goods can be dropped off in the office of the school, located at 415 Andover Road in Linthicum, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. from January 7 to 11. From 3 to 10 p.m., donations can be left with staff members camping out near the storage container.