MILTON — The King Middle School Student Government Association, with classmates’ help, collected canned foods for families in need this Thanksgiving.
All donations were separated into meal bags and distributed to families who applied for assistance. Each bag was given to families in need on Friday before students were released for fall break.
“Even those students that are considered in need, it still makes them feel good to know that they are helping others that may be in the same boat they are,” Assistant Principal Margaret McCormick said.
KMS is a Title I secondary school in which almost 80 percent of the school’s students are on free or reduced lunch.
McCormick said the Pace High School SGA donated enough turkeys to give to each family. This year, 44 bags were prepared, plus an additional 31 bags for school employees including instructional support and cafeteria staff.
Principal Darren Brock said donated items would benefit the school’s paraprofessionals, or instructional assistants, who earn around $16,000 a year.
“Basically anyone that works on the campus that is not a teacher or administrator, they are basically provided for,” Brock said.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: King Middle students collect food for families