Second graders at The Country School have collected nearly 20 boxes of food and raised $300 for Talbot Interfaith Shelter.
The students of Emily Cranwell and Diane Klingelhofer chose TIS as their service project for the year, and have been working since the beginning of January to support Talbot County’s first emergency cold weather shelter.
Recently, the students and parents held a Valentine’s Day bake sale that raised nearly $300 for the shelter. In addition, the classes have been collecting breakfast and lunch food items in the classroom, and families have also signed up to provide perishable foods, such as milk, fruit and lunchmeat. The classes have collected enough to provide at least two boxes of food to TIS each week.
Canned goods and other nonperishable foods that TIS isn’t able to use have been donated to the Neighborhood Service Center in Easton, said Cranwell, who is also the TIS site coordinator for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Easton.
To support the food drive, the second graders created posters to hang inside the halls of The Country School, and are also sorting the donations by food groups, a topic they are studying this year.
TIS, which will remain open until the end of March, is also in need of monetary donations, both to expand its services in the future and meet current needs.
“All donations are being put to good use!” said John Hobson, TIS program coordinator. “For example, along with The St. Vincent De Paul Society, we are supporting a family at a local motel until we have room for them at our facility or until DSS can find them housing. This was not part of our original plan, but it’s very hard to turn families out into the cold once you have begun to work with them.”
Donations for TIS may be made online at www.creatinglegacies.org, or by mailing a check to: Talbot Interfaith Shelter, P.O. Box 2004, Easton, MD 21601. The check should be made out to Foundation for Community Partnerships, with TIS in the memo line.
For more information or to volunteer, call Evelyn Sedlack at 410-822-0605 or Lisa Menditch at 410-745-6563, or visit www.talbotinterfaithshelter.org.