FARMINGTON – A long time tradition of helping others took place today with elementary students, teachers and retirees participating.
Helping Hands, which started in 1989, is the annual holiday time event that aims to educate students on giving back to the community while at the same time collecting hundreds of pounds of food for Care and Share Food Pantry.
Wanda Fortin and a team of other teachers at W.G. Mallett School started the tradition, loosely based on a similar event that was taking place in Skowhegan at the time. Now, 30 years later, the retired teachers still look forward to organizing the event.
“It’s wonderful to still be involved. It’s like old home days here,” Fortin said.
Fortin and other former Mallett School teachers collected the bags of food dropped off by students at the Farmington Community Center. Students filed into the basement of the building, lead by their teacher, and handed off the food they had been collecting for the past several weeks. Classrooms that collected the most food items were recognized by the school with a plaque.
This year’s version of the event had a few new aspects to it- students at the University of Maine at Farmington collected food to donate as well, and students at Mallett were given an alternative option for helping out.
Handmade holiday cards, created by the students during art class, filled the tables of the cafeteria. As students walked by on their way to the community center, they were given the chance to admire the hard work of their peers. The cards will be for sale during Chester Greenwood day, with all proceeds going to Care and Share.
“It’s just another way that all kids can participate, even if they can’t bring in a food donation,” principal Tracy Williams said.
The cards will be for sale at the American Legion Hall during Saturday’s Chester Greenwood Day celebration.
