Students join in filling pantry shelves

Franklin — Responding to a call from Freeholder Deputy Director Jeff Parrott to make food drives a permanent part of local school initiatives, The Catholic Academy of Sussex County is the first to participate in the project. The idea put forth by Parrott is to expand the basic concept of a food drive into a synchronized system in which local school districts collect food on a rotating monthly basis. The Catholic Academy includes Pope John XXIII Regional High School, Rev. George Brown School, St. Joseph’s Regional School and Immaculate Conception Regional School. This group provided food via a “Stuff the Bus” bucket brigade, held Nov. 3, in which students reached out to their larger community to set the pace for the project. The Academy schools’ students made a one-week push for needed pantry items, culminating in the collection and delivery to the Division of Social Services building. High Point Regional High School is the next school slated to participate by collecting food throughout December.