Garden City Middle School students put the finishing touches on a batch of macaroni and cheese with broccoli destined for a local homeless shelter. Ms. Liane Lewis, a representative from LI Cares - The Harry Chapin Food Bank, spoke to Ms. Constance Beovich's home and career skills classes at Garden City Middle School last month about hunger on Long Island. She showed a riveting video which depicted family members, many from middle class families, suffering from hunger on Long Island. The students participated in a series of exercises by being given a name, income, and list of expenses. They then tried to buy "food" from Ms. Lewis, having to fill out forms at "Social Services," obtain emergency money, and get food at a crowded mock Soup Kitchen. Students remarked that it was hard to buy nutritious food with their meager earnings, and that they had a better understanding of the hunger issue on Long Island. Student Mackenzie Shine asked what teens could do about hunger. This query, coupled with Ms. Lewis' presentation, sparked a canned food drive at the middle school. "The reason we are doing a food drive is because the food banks and pantries are very low right now," Ms. Beovich commented. "Most people give at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the supplies now are at an all time low. The current economic situation has added to the problem."

A classroom visit by Ms. Liane Lewis from LI Cares sparked a canned food drive last month at the middle school. Ms. Beovich's classes also made macaroni and cheese with broccoli for nearby homeless shelters and, along with Mrs. Esterow's seventh grade classes, made stuffed pillows for Winthrop Hospital's Children's Ward and Ronald McDonald House. The project was entitled, "Put your best foot forward," and, appropriately, the pillows were in the shape of feet.

Congratulations to Mrs. Beovich's and Mrs. Eserow's middle school students for their thoughtful efforts on behalf of those in need.

For their classroom project, "Put your best foot forward," these seventh grade students created stuffed pillows in the shape of feet for donation to Winthrop Hospital's Children's Ward and Ronald McDonald House.