![FoodRaising Friends Inc., with help from East Milton Elementary staff delivers food for the students and families in need at the school. From the left are Shelia Trammell, Terry Paschall, Ann Barr, Rebecca McKeithen, Tom Lloyd, Kristy Cheshire, Kellie Hardy, Sylvia Reuschel and kneeling is Sgt. Todd Reaves. [Ramon Rios\SRPG]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-7dc7095d-f2aa-7d5b-e053-0100007f6f6c-2c5e052f-scaled.jpeg)
MILTON — FoodRaising Friends Inc. completed its 2018 Christmas Project when they delivered food boxes for 95 families from East Milton Elementary School that have been identified as homeless.
"We have one of the largest populations of homeless students coming to our school," Principal Terry Paschall said.
Each box contains enough food to feed four people two meals a day for two weeks. Paschall said the food boxes are a great relief to these families, especially this time of year.
The school also has a Christmas-gift drive for their students. Students make a list of what they want or need and donors buy the new items so these children can have something to open for Christmas.
"The families in need are identified by the school's guidance counselor," Kellie Hardy, a co-founder of FoodRaising Friends Inc said.
The school will contact the parents of these families and they come to the school to pick up the food boxes and gifts. Each family receives a number corresponding with a bag of gifts and a box of food. No one except the counselor knows the identity of the families. The school and the friends group do their best to keep everything confidential.
"East Milton is a new school for us this year," Hardy said.
Hardy and Rebecca McKeithen, the other founder of the FoodRaising Friends, said it was the enthusiasm of one mother that led them to take on another school.
That mother's name is Kristy Cheshire. She has a special needs daughter — 3-year-old Ella, afflicted with Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome. The rare genetic condition causes moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities and developmental delays, breathing problems, gastrointestinal issues, and recurrent seizures.
Cheshire heard the Exceptional Student Education program at the school was fantastic and enrolled her daughter. Cheshire said Ella loves the program.
Cheshire wanted to give back and decided to do some fundraising for the food group.
"She just took off with it," Hardy said of Cheshire.
The mother went to Facebook and started a GoFundMe page for FoodRaising Friends.
"(Cheshire) raised approximately $1,000 her first time," Hardy said.
Recently, Cheshire raised an additional $734 through Facebook. She gave the money to Hardy and McKeithen's group to get more food. Hardy then decided they would add East Milton to the list of schools they have committed to support with food drives.
Currently FoodRaising Friends Inc. supports the children and families of S.S. Dixon, Chumuckla Elementary, East Milton Elementary, Bagdad Elementary, T. R. Jackson Elementary, Berryhill Elementary, Jay and Central High schools. For more information, call 850-529-4527.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: FoodRaising Friends completes 2018 Christmas project