Whoever said little kids can’t make a big difference? With
the help of mother and pre-kindergarten teacher, Christy Taylor, the children
of Educare Learning Center rounded up a fantastic contribution of 32 loaves of
bread and an assortment of clothing for their annual “Loaves of Love” bread
drive to donate to Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services.
For the past five years, Educare Learning Center, an early
childhood education center in Sacramento catering to children ages three to
five, has been teaching children the importance of sharing through their cleverly
dubbed “Loaves of Love” (L.O.L) donation effort which takes place during the
holiday season.
“Each teacher explained to children why it’s important to
donate and help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. We want the bread
drive to provide a real-life example of that,” Taylor said. “So far, we’ve had
an excellent turn-out for the program. More than ¾ of students contributed a
loaf of bread to the drive. We even had jackets, blankets and shoes to donate
this year!”
This year, students collected goods in addition to bread. “We
hope that by including other items in the donation drive, it will teach the
children to not only appreciate having food but also things like having a warm
jacket,” Taylor explained. Yielding favorable results, this year’s inclusion of
clothing to the drive provided four bags of jackets, blankets and shoes to
donate to SFBFS.
“The children constantly see pictures of poor children from
other countries, but they don’t know that people are starving in their own
backyard,” Taylor remarked. “The drive helps them realize there are people here
in need also.”
To keep the spirit of giving fresh in the children’s minds
past the holiday season, Educare Learning Center also organizes a clothing drive
every March which collects shoes, pants, shorts and t-shirts. By organizing
donation efforts throughout the school year, the staff of Educare works
continually to inspire compassion in the next generation of youth.
The donated from Educare students found its way into the hands of families in need
within a few hours of being dropped off.
If you are interested in leading a donation drive, please
visit www.sacramentofoodbank.org
for more information.
Submitted by Matt Pruitt, AmeriCorps VISTA
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