Food Collection Project Highlighted by Spirited Round of Cereal Box Dominoes

“Everybody should have a healthy breakfast,” one student enthusiastically shouted.

It was rowdier than a heavy metal concert inside the gymnasium at Peebles Elementary School. Hundreds of enthusiastic students cheered while surrounding 209 boxes of cereal stacked inches apart and forming the initials “PE” (for Peebles Elementary), to celebrate a successful food collection for NHCO.

Chelsea, a member of the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA), rallied the students by bellowing into the microphone and pumping her hands in the air. The students reacted and cheered with the same enthusiasm as Steeler Nation on opening day.

At the height of the excitement, Dr. H, the school’s principal, tapped the end of the trail of boxes causing them to gracefully topple one after another in rapid, sequential order. In under thirty seconds, the boxes fell like a row of dominoes.

Members of the PTA organized the collection and event. A few weeks earlier, they visited NHCO’s Allison Park office to create a video featuring our food pantry. The video explained to students the importance of donating to the program. Students designed posters and used other methods to spread the word and encourage their peers to collect and donate items.

Why cereal? “We wanted something the kids could connect with, so we thought what's better than cereal? Every kid loves cereal,” Chelsea said. “It’s very hard to find something that kindergarten and

fifth-grade could all understand. Plus, they could also carry it (cereal) on busses.” Additionally, Food Pantry Coordinator Jon Jordan said "Cereal is one of the core items we stock at NHCO. It's a household favorite for our clients."

The night before the event, PTA members set up the boxes, but the task proved more difficult than expected. One organizer’s husband was recruited and dubbed “the mastermind engineer.” Because he works in IT, everyone assumed he had the right mindset for the challenge. Together, they spent more than an hour setting up, knocking down, and redesigning the trail until they were confident it was ready for the main event.

The kids proved - as they often do - that at any age you can  help our neighbors. Dr. H. reminded the students that "your heart is your GPS,” a  modern way of saying follow your heart and good will happen.