Malverne middle school kids collect 2,500 cans of food

With the help of school staff and fellow students, the Student Council at the Howard T. Herber Middle School in Malverne nearly tripled its goal for the annual holiday food drive, collecting nearly 2,500 non-perishable food items for Long Island Cares, The Harry Chapin Food Bank.

Under the direction of advisor Jill Prescott, the Student Council organized the food drive as a competition, pitting homerooms against one another to see who could collect the most food. Two sixth-grade homerooms tied for first place, each collecting 350 food items, with the second- and third-place homerooms collected 175 and 106, respectively.

Long Island Cares' Executive Director Paule T. Pachter paid a visit to the school on Monday to thank the students for their generous contribution, which will be used to stock the shelves of The Harry Chapin Food Bank. 

County Executive Edward Mangano was so impressed with the students' efforts that he paid a personal visit to the school on Monday as well, presenting every member of the Student Council with an individual citation. “You should be very proud of your accomplishment,” he told the students. “I hope other schools on Long Island will follow your lead in future years.”

Proud of her students, Prescott said, “It was a great job by both students and staff. When we started this food drive in November, the Student Council set a goal for our school to collect 1,000 food items. Everyone was so proud that we were able to nearly triple that goal.”

Schools Superintendent Dr. James Hunderfund said the success of the food drive "reinforces the value our district places on community service as part of our districtwide character education program."