Patton student organizes food drive

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kansas (May 6, 2021) -- When Sara Hanley, Patton Junior High School seventh-grader, was assigned a passion project by her teacher, she said it wasn’t hard to choose hers.

“We had to choose something that we were passionate about and do a project on it,” Hanley said. “I’m really passionate about helping people in my local community, so I chose to do a food drive, so I could help people.”

From March 22 through April 22, Hanley organized and conducted a food drive at Patton for the Leavenworth Mission Community Store/Food Pantry.

“Students were asked to choose a topic they were passionate about and learn more about it by spending a portion of their (class time) each week on it. Each student was required to create a product from (his or her) research. This could be an essay, a work of art, a short story, a speech, or any number of items depending on the topic they chose,” said Grace Behrens, Patton seventh-grade English language arts teacher. “My ultimate goal with the project was for students to be engaged in learning about something they care about and for them to see the fruits of their labor at the end of the project.

“Sara has gone above and beyond with her food drive this year, and part of her product through this progress is not only her contributions to the food pantry but also a binder outlining her process for implementing this food drive so future students can start one,” she said. “She is a driven young lady who really wants to make a difference. Sara has taken charge from day one and provided a model example of what one student can do with drive and focus on a goal.”

In addition to donations and putting a binder together, Hanley had to choose the right place, get permission from Patton Principal Ryan Wiebe and find ways to encourage students to donate.

“I wanted to motivate people to donate, so I talked to the principal, and he said I could have incentives,” Hanley said. “I could have a pizza party for the class that donated the most overall and the popcorn party for each class in the grade levels that had the most.”

Wiebe said he was happy to support Hanley in the project.

“(The food drive) is something that this year (students) didn’t think they could do, but when Sara did such a good job planning it and the purpose for it supporting the community and the food bank, I absolutely said, ‘Yes,’” Wiebe said. “She didn’t think she could afford or provide rewards, but I said I could take care of any and all rewards.

“The students did a great job of bringing in items,” he said.

She also wrote blog posts on the progress of her project on Kidblog, a safe student publishing site, which was shared with her classmates for feedback.

Hanley’s efforts led to the donation of more than 500 non-perishable food items to the food pantry April 28.

“It was evident that Sara put a lot of effort into the coordination of a successful food drive for the Mission Food Pantry. We received a variety of pasta, cereals and canned goods,” said Iris Arnold, Leavenworth Mission Community Store/Food Pantry president. “These donations will help us to make food boxes and feed 500 families that rely on services from the mission each month.”

Hanley said she now just hopes the donation to the food pantry does the community good.

“My hope is that it can go to people in our local community who need help and that it can help them have a little less stress about what they need to do and maybe help them focus on something other than food and get them a little better set up,” Hanley said.