EL Students Donate More than 850 Pounds of Food to Solidarity Sandy Springs Food Pantry

By Head of Community Engagement Gordon Mathis 

A traditional part of Galloway’s curriculum is the service-learning project in second grade when EL counselor Lynn Mandelbaum - a.ka. Ms. M. - introduces students to the Solidarity Sandy Springs Food Pantry. This week, as a prelude to Thanksgiving, students in Early Learning classes began applying their social and emotional learning lessons to thinking about food insecurity.

Galloway students enjoyed a “virtual field trip” with the workers at the Food Pantry via Zoom. This contact with participants on the front line of a social service agency helped the students understand food insecurity in a very personal way. This program quickly traveled throughout Early Learning to become a level-wide initiative that links individual Galloway students to issues around food and households as the students reflect on their own Thanksgiving celebrations. 

Two students in EL responded with such fervor that they invited members of their neighborhood to contribute canned goods to the school food drive. “Galloway teaches the students to think for themselves,” said their parent. “They are learning to be empathetic and kind.”

In total, EL families collected over 864 pounds of food will feed 43 families for several days! A special thank you is also due to those Galloway families who helped beyond collecting canned goods; grandparent Bruce Lafitte, and parents Emily Kapit and Deb Weisshaar all assisted in delivering the goods to Solidarity.

This year, the contributions to the Solidarity Sandy Springs Food Pantry were dedicated to the memory of Bob Summers, Lynn Mandelbaum’s husband, who died during last school year and remained dedicated to community service his entire life. He had a big heart and he sought ways to help meet the needs of underserved citizens and alleviate hunger in our community.