The fifth-grade Community Box Project at Tioga Hills Elementary is a holiday tradition that completes a social studies unit on wants and needs. Facilitated by fifth-grade teachers Sarah Gilliland and Corinne Schake each year, the students also learn a lesson in kindness and giving back to the community.
Students and their families filled the shoe boxes with personal care items at home, and then they were wrapped in the classroom on December 1. Mrs. Gilliland's and Mrs. Schake's classes then walked them down Glann Road to deliver them to the Park Terrace Community Food Pantry, housed in the basement of the Park Terrace Methodist Church.
Destined for families who rely on the food pantry, over 65 wrapped boxes filled with personal care items were donated. Local nonprofit Nathan's Butterflies founder Ben Cucci and friend Daniel Gorey also dropped off 10 boxes.