CANFIELD, Ohio (WFMJ) - It's become a tradition for the students at Canfield Village Middle School. Over the last seven years, they've collected more than 20,000 pounds of food to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank.

The boxes add up pretty quickly, with Middle School students racing to out-do one another.

"The classrooms have a competition. If you bring in the most food, you get a pretzel party and hot chocolate, so I guess everyone's trying to compete for that," said 8th grader Parker Ahlquist.

Behind that competition is a mission that they're all learning about, and even something as simple as this goes a long way toward understanding the need here in the Valley.

"There's a lot of people who need help and a lot of people are starving every day, so it's a lot that we are helping them and they get a meal," said 8th grader Hadley Moser.

To really drive home that fact, the students got to see the actual Second Harvest warehouse last school year in person.

"We brought our students last year to the building to see where this food actually goes," said student council advisor Rachel Camuso. "It was amazing to see all the workers, the people in the armed forces who were volunteering and then our students got to experience that and see where this food goes."

"If you walk in there was a big part where they stack boxes and boxes of food that some people didn't use or was donated there," said Moser. "I just thought that was like, that's so much!"

These students are doing their part now, to make sure those shelves are well-stocked.

All you have to do is walk in the front door of the school to see the impact this has already made. The lobby is filled with boxes and tubs, filled to the top.

"It makes a huge difference," said 8th grader Parker Meyers. "We started at zero and we already have so much food."

With many future leaders, stepping up to make that happen.

"Our students are in grades five through eight. You want to plant those seeds early. You want to make sure that you show kids, if you can donate, if you can be generous then absolutely, you should," said Camuso.

"Age doesn't really matter," said Ahlquist. "You can do anything at any age if you have a bunch of people that are helping."

Students in Canfield, learning life lessons and helping others

 

in the process.