Middle school students help load trucks with boxes of donated canned goods that will help local charities meet Thanksgiving needs. (left to right): Caroline Hort hands a box to Garrett Byrd while Wesley Blair uses a dolly.  Submitted photo

Parrott Academy’s Middle School Council has completed a successful canned goods drive for Thanksgiving. From Nov. 11 - 20, students in grades six through eight brought canned goods and non-perishable food items to their classrooms. Four homerooms had 100% participation and, overall, 84% of students in grades six through eight donated. 

On Thursday, Nov. 21, students assisted Middle School Council advisors Shivar Person and Melissa Warren by packing the cans into boxes and loading them onto trucks and vans for transport. The food will be given to churches, food banks, and charity sites in Greene, Lenoir, Craven, and Pitt counties. 

Meanwhile, Parrott’s high school Spanish Club completed a successful drive to collect cans of Campbell’s soup. This is part of an annual holiday project to assemble a decorative soup can Christmas tree. The display will be set up in the school’s entrance lobby for all to see before Christmas vacation. 

Spanish Club sponsor Meda Piner said, “This is a great project involving our entire school. In past years, we’ve been able to deliver thousands of cans to St. Mary’s Church and ICOR here in Kinston, as well as church organizations in Greenville and New Bern.”